A man who contacted three ‘young girls’ and asked them to send him images of themselves has been spared jail.
Euan Gibbons made the contacts on various online chatrooms and believed them to be teenage girls aged 14.
The 21-year-old, of Maes Pennat, Mostyn, Flintshire also instigated a chat with a 'girl' who told him she was 12 years old.
But they were all adults who were posing as teenagers and members of an online paedophile hunting group.
A judge at Mold Crown Court heard several members of the group attempted to confront Gibbons at his home last June.
Andrew Green, prosecuting, said Gibbon's parents prevented him from coming to the front door.
Police were alerted and he was arrested. During a search a mobile phone and a laptop computer were seized.
Mr Green said these revealed logs of the various chats in June last year.
The examination also revealed indecent images and videos of children.
Gibbons admitted four charges of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and three charges of making indecent photographs.
Suspending the 18-month prison sentence for two years Judge Niclas Parry said he had made "determined and repeated" attempts at contacting teenage girls and had solicited naked images from them.
"You went as far as to enquire where two of them lived and had you had an opportunity you would have met these girls.
"Mercifully there were no children," the judge said.
Gibbons was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and attend 40 sessions of rehabilitation activity.
Defence counsel Oliver King described Gibbons as a naive young man who had no previous convictions.
His family, he added, were supporting him and he was willing to engage with the Probation Service.
Additionally Gibbons was given a ten year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. His details will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for the same period.
