A Weston man who sent a picture of his penis and encouraged the girl to teach her eight-year-old sister to masturbate has been caught out by a police sting.

Terry Peake, aged 27, faces jail after admitting exchanging sexual messages with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl called Maisie - only to learn the person he shared his lurid fantasies with was actually an undercover police officer.

The defendant contacted the girl on social media using a fake profile, asking whether she had lost her virginity before encouraging her to perform sexual acts.

Posing as a 14-year-old boy, he also instructed Maisie to involve her younger sister in sexual activity before he was identified by police and arrested.

Peake, of Lonsdale Avenue, will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on June 14 after pleading guilty at North Somerset Courthouse on May 22 to charges of attempting to incite a girl aged 13 to engage in sexual activity involving the penetration of her vagina, sexual communication with a person under 16, and failing to disclose an electronic device to officers.

May Li, prosecuting, said: "In this offence, Peake had been using a fake profile, purporting to be a 14-year-old boy from London. He was communicating with a girl called Maisie.

"The conversation turned to a sexual nature. He asked her if she was a virgin, and he taught her how to masturbate. He told her to teach her eight-year-old sister to masturbate.

"He also sent her a picture of his penis - but Maisie was actually an undercover police officer and he was identified after also sending a picture of his face.

"He was already subject to a sexual offences prevention order.

"A Bush tablet was seized by police, and he gave them the password for that.

"The sentencing guidelines for this are two to six years' imprisonment."

Anna Blackmore, chair of the bench, told the court Peake's crimes merited a more severe sentence than magistrates can give.

She said: "We are committing you to Bristol Crown Court because the offences you are charged with need greater punishment than we can give.

"There has been no application for bail and we would not oppose the continued remand in custody."