A NEWPORT man has been jailed for two years after sending explicit messages on Facebook to a mother disguised as her teenage daughter.

Greg Causton, 28, had pleaded guilty to attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity at a hearing last month.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how, over a two day period in November last year, Causton sent messages to the mother of the teenager from Bristol, who had set up a Facebook page using her daughter's picture.

The mother had been alerted by her other teenage daughter after Causton sent her "explicit messages" on the social media site, prosecuting David Thomas told the court.

The mother, who along with her daughters cannot be named for legal reasons, then sent a friend request to Causton pretending to be her younger teenage daughter, who was under 16, after becoming concerned of the nature of the initial messages.

Mr Thomas added: "He accepted her and then a number of exchanges were made, which quickly became of a sexual nature."

The court then heard how the defendant asked the child how old she was, to which the mother replied stating the teenager's age.

Causton, of Keir Hardie Terrace in Newport, then continued with the sexual comments, once asking the child to show him her breasts.

But when the mother revealed her true identity to Causton, who had previously said he was 20 years old, he then asked her permission to have sex with her daughter.

The mother then reported the matter to the police.

Defending Marian Lewis said: "It's a very unusual case because an approach was made to this defendant by an adult pretending to be a girl under 16."

She added the defendant had shown genuine remorse for his actions, and had acted through "boredom" and through the "influence of cannabis".

But sentencing Causton to two years' imprisonment, Judge Richard Twomlow said: "There was a significant disparity in ages. You said you were 20 when in fact you were 27 at the time, and when she said her age you didn't stop. Your response, remarkably, was to ask if you could have sex with her daughter."

Causton was told to serve half of his sentence in custody. His sentence would have been three years had he not pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Judge Twomlow added that Causton was disqualified from ever working with children and ordered to pay £100 victim surcharge.