A CONVICTED paedophile was caught out trying to groom under age girls in a police sting.

Philip Loutfi, aged 28, of Grasmere Avenue, had been using the internet to chat to a 13-year-old girl named Lucy before his messages became more graphic.

But Lucy was actually a pseudonym adopted by a Metropolitan Police officer created to catch out paedophiles.

Warrington Crown Court heard on Friday how it was not the first time Loutfi had been sentenced for such offences.

Gordon Hewell said: “In 2008 he was 22 and had offences of sexual grooming on the internet which led to sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl against him.

“He was handed two years and eight months in prison.”

In March last year Loutfi logged onto a chat room, first pretending to be a 15-year-old boy from Manchester before revealing his true age of 27 at the time.

And over the course of two months his messages turned more explicit and included sending indecent images and live videos.

David Rose, defending, said: “At the outset he has been completely frank about his offending.

“He has, while in prison, tried to make the best of it and engaged in everything he can.

“His concern is that he has let his family down again.”

Sentencing him to two years in prison each for attempting to engage a child in sexual activity and breaching his sexual prevention order to run concurrently, Judge Roger Dutton said: “Engaging and inciting young girls to be involved in sexual activity is a serious matter.

"In this case it was a sting, there was no young girl but you were doing everything necessary to encourage contact with a child.

“You have serious convictions previously for involvement with sexual matters.

“The probation officer is clearly very concerns about ideas you have, the way you present yourself and the risk you present to others in the future.”