A man has been put on probation after sending indecent messages to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl, but who was actually an undercover police officer.

Ciaran McElhinney, who is 57, sent lewd and obscene messages.

High Bailiff Jayne Hughes sentenced him to a two-year probation order.

We previously reported that, on September 27, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit had linked McElhinney to online conversations on an anonymous application called ‘Randochat’.

He was talking to someone who he believed to be called ‘Poppy’, who had given her age as 13.

However, this was actually an undercover police officer.

McElhinney’s online profile stated that he was aged 49.

The chats showed that McElhinney had sexualised the conversations and began.

The chats were traced to McElhinney’s home address and he was arrested, with police also seizing 22 devices.

The court heard that no indecent images had been found on any of the devices.

In court, McElhinney, who lives at Keppel Road in Douglas, pleaded guilty to a charge of sending messages that were grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or of a menacing character.

A probation report assessed the defendant as a low risk of reoffending and of harm to others.

Defence advocate Jane Gray said that the report was quite in-depth and that she would not go into all of its details in open court.

The advocate asked for credit to be given for her client’s guilty plea and the fact that he had no previous convictions at age 57.

‘He is remorseful and says this is never going to happen again,’ said Ms Gray.

The probation report said that McElhinney would benefit from a period of supervision, that work had been identified which could be done with him, and that he had an appointment with mental health services.

Ms Gray said that, since the offence had appeared in the press, McElhinney had lost his job, his home, and his relationship had broken down.

The advocate said that he had now found a new employer who was aware of the court case.

The High Bailiff told McElhinney: ‘This was a serious offence. You engaged with a person you thought was a 13-year-old girl and invited her to provide photos over a two-week period.

‘There was pre-meditation as you sought her out on Randochat.’

Mrs Hughes said that she had taken into account his guilty plea, the probation report, and that no other offences had come to light from the police investigation.

McElhinney must also pay £125 costs by July 4.