A NEW dad sent Instagram messages to a 13-year-old girl telling her she was sexy.

Ryan Blackwell, 25, was living with his girlfriend in a caravan at the time and felt he was a failure, Swindon magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Keith Ballinger said the girl told a youth worker she had been contacted by a man she thought might be grooming her.

The man, who used the name John Lawrence, had approached her on her Instagram account and the first exchange of messages was on May 1 last year. She realised she was being followed by him, so she followed him back. He then began commenting on her photographs. “He would tell her she was beautiful and sexy,”said Mr Ballinger.

On one occasion he encouraged her to go on Instagram live and send some pictures of herself to him. “She suspected he wanted naked pictures but there was no request for them,” said Mr Ballinger.

Police identified the account the messages were sent from and found Blackwell. “When he is first interviewed he provides a prepared statement where he says he does not know anything about it and has not been exchanging messages.”

But after a discussion with his legal representative he admitted the allegations and claimed he did not know the girl was 13 at the beginning of the exchange.

Blackwell, of High Street, Royal Wootton Bassett, pleaded guilty to a charge of communicating with a girl under the age of 16 for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification.

His solicitor Sam Arif advised the bench the offence had only come into force a few weeks before the messages were sent and was not to be confused with inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. She said she had been through the conversations that happened over the space of two months. “That’s a short period of time. Not all the conversations were sexual. In some of them she told him what she was going to do that day. “The worst he seems to say is ‘you are beautiful, you are sexy’, said Mr Arif.

When asked to send pictures the girl told Blackwell she did not send pictures like that. “He replied that he didn’t ask her to send nude photos.”

His messages were not aggressive, they weren’t asking her to go round and they weren’t asking where she lived.

He had difficult personal circumstances at the time. “His housing accommodation had been taken away from him and he ended up living with his girlfriend and new baby in a caravan. He felt a failure and took to Instagram for some time out.”

He felt genuine remorse

The case was adjourned until March 26 for a pre-sentence report. Blackwell was granted unconditional bail.