A PERVERT who told a 13-year-old girl he dreamed of having sex with her has been spared prison.

Lawrence Orpen, from Fearnhead, was also caught with disgusting pornographic videos involving a snake and a pig.

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday, March 23, that the 51-year-old contacted his young victim over Facebook in early 2019.

In on vile message, he told the teenager: "There is only so much porn I can watch on my phone in one day."

She told her mum that Orpen had sent an her an explicit picture of himself, and the dad was arrested at his partner’s home in April last year.

After seizing his computer, police found a 14-second pornographic video involving a snake and an adult male and a 69-second clip of a woman having sex with a pig.

A statement read to the court on behalf of the victim described how his action had ‘changed her life’ and left her suffering from anxiety and sleeping problems, the Liverpool Echo reports.

The court also heard how Orpen, of Templeton Drive, had ‘brought shame upon himself and his family’.

At the time, he was ‘drinking to excess’ after the death of his father and is now a carer for his mum – who lives in the north east.

Orpen, who has no previous convictions, admitted sexual communication with a child and two counts of possessing extreme porn during an earlier hearing.

Judge Garrett Byrne handed him a 12-month imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and told him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

Sentencing, judge Byrne said: "You sent a young 13-year-old girl extremely disgusting sexual messages.

"It's clear that you did develop an unnatural attraction to her.

"When you were arrested, the police then discovered disgusting video clips on your phone.

"I want you to know you've come extremely close to going to prison today."

Orpen was also handed a 60-day rehabilitation activity requirement and told to sign the sex offenders register for the next 10 years.

He was given a sexual harm prevention order lasting the same period.