Preston sex offender Rohan Sharma, who was caught by girl's mum, is spared prison

Rohan Sharma, 21, of Cottam Green, Cottam, was previously found guilty of inciting the woman’s daughter to engage in sexual activity.

Unknown to jurors, he had already pleaded guilty to possessing a string of indecent images of children.

Judge Beverley Lunt imposed a two year jail term, suspended for two years, and ordered him to sign the Sex Offender’s Register for 10 years.

He was also given a five year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and must take part in a sex offender’s treatment programme.

Sharma had received indecent images of children on to his i-Phone via the messaging application Kik, and downloaded them in July 2016 - on the same day he had messaged the youngster.

He had many explicit sexual images and videos of young, and sometimes very young girls, on his phone and i-Pad, as well as pictures of himself he had sent to the girl.

Preston Crown Court previously heard he was arrested after the horrified mum found the girl’s phone under her pillow, and spotted a string of notifications on an app called Whisper.

Sharma sent lewd messages asking the youngster her to meet up and perform an act upon him. He had also asked the primary school pupil for pictures and sent her a bare-chested picture of himself.

The girl told him she was 11, but he wasn’t put off, wanting to find out where she lived and where she went to school.

Police were unable to trace a suspect when the family first reported the matter, so the mum created her own profile on social media app Whisper, and waited to see if the person on her daughter’s phone would post any new pictures.

When she saw the same topless selfie Sharma sent to the girl had been uploaded on the site, she commented through the app: “Hot”. He then sent her his “Snapchat” ID so they could have more contact.

This enabled the mum to get his name and give it to police.