A primary school caretaker and married father-of-three has lost his job and his family after attempting to arrange for a 12-year-old girl to be sent to him for sex.

Joseph Hart, 34, was arrested in May 2012 after police intercepted texts he sent to a notorious paedophile, Darren Leggett, arranging to pay £100 per hour for the girl. Hart was immediately suspended from his job at Chorley New Road Primary School and has since been banned from working with children.

During the arrest, police discovered 61 indecent images of children on Hart's computer. At his trial, Hart initially claimed he was trying to trap Leggett, but a jury found him guilty of arranging a child sex offence. He also admitted to six further counts relating to the indecent images.

In November, Judge Elliot Knopf sentenced Hart to a two-year suspended jail sentence, stating that Hart's case was "unique" and that the deal with Leggett was in its "early stages." He also said that Hart did not understand the "outcome of his actions."

Hart had contacted Leggett via text on February 6, 2012, after finding him on a website. Leggett was arrested by Kent Police on February 10, and his phone was found to contain texts between February 6 and 9. Hart was arrested in May 2012 and subsequently suspended by Bolton Council.

Hart's defense lawyer, Vanessa Thompson, stated that Hart had been married with three children but had separated from his wife since the case came to light. She also stated that "He is never going to work for the council again and never will he work in the capacity he was before."

Judge Knopf said: "Your case is different and complex and in many respects unique. You are someone who suffers from Asperger's and the result of it would appear to be an obsessive compulsive personality, and you do not understand the outcome of your actions. It is an explanation as to how you came to be involved in all of this. The arrangement with Leggett was very much in embryonic form. No venue had been agreed for what was to happen. Very little had been discussed. Once Leggett was out of the way there is no evidence that you tried to pursue enquiries with anyone else."

A council spokesman said: "We can confirm that Mr Hart was immediately suspended from duty as soon as he was arrested and no longer works for the council. None of the charges related to his employment or place of work."

Hart was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for the same period, for arranging a child sex offence. He received a concurrent nine-month sentence for the six charges of making indecent images. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and given a five-year sexual offences prevention order.

Leggett, a convicted paedophile from Kent, was jailed indefinitely in June 2012 for 31 counts of child sex abuse. He will remain in prison until at least 2019 and must prove he is no longer a danger before his release can be considered.