A remorseless paedophile told his offender manager he continued to log onto pornographic chatrooms because it was “fun and gave him giggles”.

John Butters, 72, had been due to stand trial at Swindon Crown Court on an allegation he exchanged sexually-explicit messages with an undercover police officer posing as a young girl.

The trial cracked on Thursday when Butters pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child in September 2017.

He had already admitted possession of indecent images and headbutting the police officer who came to arrest him on September 6, 2018.

Butters refused to hand over his phone to the dock officer, reiterating his refusal to the judge. “If I have a heart attack then I need to get hold of somebody in an emergency.” Judge Jason Taylor QC reassured him: “If you have a heart attack we’ll call somebody.”

The man’s attitude raised alarm bells for prosecutor Anjali Gohil, who read out an email from the man’s offender manager sent to the police officer responsible for bringing the case to court.

The offender manager said she had called Butters on July 15 when he claimed he was still logging onto websites like “XXX Chat” and “Exclusive Chat” for two hours a day but was no longer using gay chatrooms as “they got boring”. He continued to have a sexual interest in children aged 16 to 18 and said, if asked if he wanted to receive pictures of younger teen children, he would consider the offer before turning it down.

The email concluded: “Butters has no remorse for his victims. He continues to explore his sexual fantasies with other like-minded individuals.”

Gareth James, defending, said sex offenders were often criticised for not being frank with the authorities or for seeking to minimise their behaviour. Being frank about their behaviour “is the first step in engaging with the appropriate authorities to address the underlying problems”.

Revoking his bail, Judge Taylor said: “This court is well versed to the conflicting emotions that people experience whilst at court. Notwithstanding that you demonstrated surprising as well as blatant attitude and hostility upon entering the dock.

“Whilst I am prepared and will agree for the preparation of a pre-sentence report I did express concerns and your advocate that you might frustrate the process based on what I had observed.

“It transpires I’m not the first to notice this hostility because having expressed my concerns the prosecution properly brought to my attention the fact your offender manager who’s been working with you since you entered some please in November contacted the officer in the case of her own volition to raise concerns about you.”

Butters, of St Albans Close, Rodbourne, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on October 8.