A 54-YEAR-OLD man who tried to persuade sex workers to arrange for him to have sex with a 13-year-old girl has been jailed.

Peter Cooke, from Spinney Close, Endon, was yesterday convicted of attempting to arrange or facilitate sexual activity with an underage girl, on September 20 last year at Fenton.

He had earlier admitted four separate charges of downloading a total of 112 indecent images of children at Macclesfield on March 23, 2007.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones assessed Cooke as a dangerous offender and handed him an extended sentence of nine years, including four years' jail and an extended licence period of five years.

During the trial, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Cooke visited Tingles Massage Parlour, Fenton, on four or five separate occasions. Each time he took part in sexual activity with a 20-year-old worker.

Peter Cooper, prosecuting, said: "He visited a massage parlour and requested staff let him have access to a child for the purpose of sexual activity."

Mr Cooper said the 20-year-old, who was identified in court as Miss A, became suspicious of Cooke when he began to ask her about young girls.

Another woman – identified as Miss B – said Cooke had offered her money to arrange for him to have sex with an underage girl.

She said: "He was asking me if I had kids and was a child available for sex. He asked if any of the other ladies had kids and would they be prepared to bring a child in."

Catherine O'Reilly, defending, said Cooke was of good character before the offences and did not stand by the jury's findings.

She said: "He is deeply upset for his mother and the care of his mother. He is greatly concerned what will happen to her now. He feels he may never see her again.

"Cooke has suffered from depression and anxiety in the past. Any custodial sentence is going to be extremely difficult for him to cope with."

Sentencing, Judge Trevor-Jones told Cooke: "Attempting to arrange the commission of a child for a sexual offence is a very serious offence. It indicates to me, whatever fantasy you may have expressed, you have sought to move on to experience such acts yourself with young girls.

"I have no doubt requests were made to Miss A and Miss B that you wanted to have sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

"I have no doubt had you been provided with such a young girl, you would have carried the act out. This was not some one off, but part of a pattern of requests by you.

"It happened subsequent to your initial gratification of images. Your fantasy became blurred. You crossed the edge from fantasy to intent."

Cooke will be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely and was banned from working with children for life.

In an article on Thursday we described Miss B as a sex worker. We have been asked to point out this is not the case. We are happy to make this clarification.