A paedophile who asked a ‘13-year-old girl’ to be his girlfriend has been placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Marc Hill, 30, began messaging someone he believed to be a teenage girl in July last year after they met on an online dating site. The 'girl' was in fact a decoy account set up by an online child abuse activist group.

Over the following days Hill became increasingly intimate, asking explicit questions and for 'her' to be his girlfriend.

On August 4, members of the activist group visited Hill at his home in Church Lane, Papworth Everard, where he admitted to contacting the decoy account and was arrested by police officers shortly after.

At Cambridge Crown Court on Tuesday (May 7), Hill was also sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, and handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order after pleading guilty to attempting to incite a girl aged 13-15 to engage in sexual activity.

DC Rachel Brown said: "Hill believed he was messaging a 13-year-old girl and persistently sent sexualised messages.

"His intent was clear throughout and thankfully it was a fake account he had been communicating with."