"Groomed a 12-year-old schoolgirl” he met online after pretending he was a teenage gardener.

A paedophile, Declan Hatton, 30, from Ebbw Vale, has been jailed for three years after being found guilty of grooming a 12-year-old schoolgirl online.

Hatton, who pretended to be a teenage gardener, met the girl on the messaging app Kik. Unbeknownst to him, he was actually communicating with an undercover police officer who had joined the group chat.

Newport Crown Court heard that Hatton created a fake profile, claiming to be a 19-year-old gardener from Blackwood. He then engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the girl, asking her to perform a sexual act on herself and encouraging her to watch pornography.

Hatton was convicted of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, and attempting to cause a child to watch an image of sexual activity.

The judge, Daniel Williams, said Hatton knew Kik was popular with children and that he had deliberately created a false profile to deceive the girl.

Hatton was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life and was made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.