Roger Lee - who holds a previous conviction for having sex with a 12-year-old - used the name 'ForHire' when he joined online chatroom Badoo.
"He stated he liked young girls and had previously had a relationship with a female aged 12"
He soon began chatting openly with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl, even going so far as to send her graphic photographs of himself.
But not all was as it seemed, as the 14-year-old girl's profile was a fake, set up by vigilantes Dark Justice in a bid to entrap sexual predators.
Lawyer Tom Gittin told the jury at Newcastle Crown Court: "He stated he liked young girls and had previously had a relationship with a female aged 12.
"The messages continued over several days and began to become sexually explicit, at the defendant's instigation."
Lee soon arranged to meet the girl when her parents were away, and travelled from Wiltshire to Newcastle - where he was confronted by two men holding a video camera.
The court heard within hours of being exposed, Lee made a suicide threat which prompted urgent action by police on a nationwide scale to have him found and arrested.
He then pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.
Lee must abide by a sexual offences prevention order and sign the sex offenders register for life.
He has been sentenced to two years and four months in prison.
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