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		</div><p>A sexual predator in Wales who was caught out asking a 13-year-old girl for sex by a member of the public who ran his own sting operation has been spared prison.</p>
<p>Bernard Merrells, 52, sent explicit messages including nude pictures and video, to what he believed was a young girl, Swansea Crown Court heard.</p>
<p>In reality he was speaking to Dylan Timby, who had created a fake profile on the dating website Waplog, posing as an under age female, named Roxy Jones.</p>
<p>Mr Timby reported Merrells to the police and he was arrested.</p>
<p>Sentencing him today, Judge Peter Heywood said if he sent Merrells, who he described as &#8220;lonely and depressed&#8221; to prison for his actions which &#8220;beggared belief&#8221;, he would not receive the treatment he needed.</p>
<p>Craig Jones, prosecuting, said Merrells made it clear &#8220;he was looking for a girlfriend&#8221; when he started speaking to Roxy.</p>
<p>He said: &#8220;He mentioned he would be a good boyfriend.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mr Jones said the pair exchanged phone numbers and used What&#8217;s App to exchange photographs, which included nude images that Merrells claimed were of him and a video purporting to show him masturbating.</p>
<p>He added that Merrells asked the person to whom he was speaking to meet him in a hotel and told her not to tell her parents about their chats.</p>
<figure id="attachment_103571" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-103571" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/IMG_0277.jpg"><img src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/IMG_0277.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="325" class="size-full wp-image-103571" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-103571" class="wp-caption-text">Bernard Merrells, 52, covers up as he leaves Swansea Crown Court.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Mr Jones said: &#8220;The conversation was of an explicit nature between the two individuals.&#8221;<br />
Merrells, of Bryn Road, Clydach, Swansea, South Wales, admitted one count of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity at an earlier hearing.</p>
<p>David Singh, defending Merrells, said he was now reluctant to use the internet and was remorseful for what he had done.</p>
<p>After hearing about the exchange of images and videos, Judge Heywood said modern technology had something to answer for.</p>
<p>&#8220;Things were much more simple in my youth,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We see so much of this day in, day out. I know it (technology) has its advantages but this is the flip side of the coin.&#8221;</p>
<p>He said Merrells &#8220;richly deserved&#8221; to go to prison but added that there he would come into contact with more sophisticated sex offenders.</p>
<p>He said: &#8220;You pose a risk to young girls of committing offences of this nature and it needs addressing.<br />
&#8220;It would not be addressed by a custodial sentence because there is a huge waiting list &#8230; I would have to sentence you to four years (and that&#8217;s) not a course that&#8217;s open to me.&#8221;</p>
<p>Merrells was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to take part in a rehabilitation activity requirement for up to 40 days.</p>
<p>He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and told to sign the sex offenders register, both for a period of 10 years.</p>
<p>Judge Heywood said he would monitor the progress of the order with reviews.</p>
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