A PAEDOPHILE told a “13-year-old schoolgirl he would treat her like a queen” and that he wanted her to be his girlfriend.

Matthew Larcombe, 29, from Newport was snared by undercover police posing as underage children online.

Paul Hewitt, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court how the defendant had sent erect pictures of his penis.

When Larcombe was arrested officers found extreme pornography on his iPhone which included a video of “a fish being penetrated”.

Mr Hewitt said that during one chat with a fictional girl named Mia, the defendant had: “Told her he would treat her like a queen and told her how beautiful she was.

“He wanted her to be his girlfriend and he reassured her he would never use her.

“The defendant said he would like to take her to the beach and arcade in Barry.”

Larcombe, of Stockton Road, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

His barrister Tabith Walker, mitigating, asked the court to take into account her client’s early guilty pleas, his previous good character and his remorse.

Judge Simon Mills told the defendant: “There were occasions when they were telling you that they were at school.

“You even communicated with them when you were at your place of work.

“You sent them pictures, including pictures of your erect penis, actually shameful behaviour.”

He added: “You've denied having any sexual interest in children but the facts of this case make it, I'm afraid, blindingly obvious that you do.

“You have expressed remorse which I consider to be genuine.

“As I said, like many offenders who come before the courts in these things, you're still living in this fantasy world that I've already referred to where you say you don't have a sexual interest in underage girls.

“The facts of this case proved beyond any doubt that you do.”

Larcombe was jailed for 16 months but that was suspended for two years.

He will have to attend 35 sessions of a sex offender programme and complete a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

The defendant will have to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order until 2034.

Lacombe will also have to pay £420 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge.