A MAN who coaxed an 11-year-old girl to take indecent pictures of herself and send them to him has walked free from court after a judge said 'I don't consider this to be a particularly serious case'.

Clive Grace, 20, pretended to be a 12-year-old boy when he first encouraged the primary school aged youngster to send him pictures of herself with no clothes on.

And when police arrested him he said: "I'm not innocent this time mum: I did receive pictures. She said she was 13. I know it was wrong. Then I think I encouraged it."

Despite saying he had not show remorse for what he had done a judge at Swindon Crown Court decided to give him 'a chance' and passed a suspended sentence.

Recorder David Bartlett said as there had not been a contact offence it put what he had done into a lower bracket and so he could suspend the sentence.

He told his lawyer: "What I think he should know, and I will try to spell it out to him, is that he is getting a chance and I am aware of at least some of his problems.

"I don't consider this to be a particularly serious case, This kind of behaviour has the potential to escalate into something very much worse unless it is treated.

"With a man of good character it seems to me I can take a chance with the stick of a suspended sentence and the carrot of supervision that can divert him away from this type of behaviour.

"He should understand his use of the internet is going to be very much restricted and overlooked by the police."

He imposed an 18-month jail term suspended for two years, during which time he would be under supervision of the probation service.

He told Grace: "You have been to special school and you have both physical and mental learning difficulties and that you have some history of inappropriate behaviour of a sexualised behaviour which has not hitherto come before the criminal courts.

"One of the most concerning aspects is your absence of remorse, and it is one factor that gives me cause for thought, but I conclude that is because of your learning difficulties rather than immaturity and disregard for the victim's feelings.

"One would hope that the supervising officer would deal with your sexual deviance on a one to one basis and try to move you away from the type of behaviour that has led you to this court."

He also imposed a sexual harm prevention order banning him from having any device which could connect to the internet without police permission for ten years, the same period for which he must register as a sex offender.

Earlier Claire Marlow, prosecuting, said that Grace first contacted the little girl on Facebook, lying about his age.

The court heard that he initially pretended to be just 12, later saying he was 16.

He claimed that she initially said she was 13, but messages retrieved from their machines showed he knew her real age before getting the indecent images.

Miss Marlow said: "She and the defendant started talking to one another. During the course of their discussions he asked her for photographs of her, including poses where she had her underwear on and later exposing her breasts and genitalia."

She said the girl told the police she had inadvertently send him the pictures when she was trying to store them on her computer last October.

Grace, of Godolphin Close, Freshbrook, pleaded guilty to causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and three counts of possessing indecent images of a child.

Tony Bignall, defending, said told the court that his client had a number of issues with both learning difficulties and physical problems for which he takes a large amount of medication.

"The fear is he would suffer disproportionately if an immediate custodial sentence was imposed," he said.