A married paedophile who groomed what he believed to be a young girl told her to say she was his niece when they met to avoid arousing suspicion.

Daniel Smart engaged in a series of highly sexual conversations with someone he believe to be a 13-year-old child but who was actually an undercover police officer.

During the communications Smart told the female he wanted to take her virginity, tried to get her to perform a series of sex acts, and discussed her travelling to see him in Swansea so they could have sex in his car.

When arrested Smart said he was addicted to chatting online, and descried the conversations he had with what he believed to be a child as “verbal porn”.

Sending the defendant to prison, a judge told the father that though he may find it difficult to accept the fact, the reality is he has a sexual interest in children.

James Hartson, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court in July last year Smart began communicating with what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl online, discussing her age and school and joking he was old enough to be her father but “he wouldn’t tell if she wouldn’t”.

Smart then asked the teenager to start chatting with him on Skype in case his wife had access to his WhatsApp account.

The court heard that over the following couple of days Smart engaged in a series of sexual conversations in which he detailed the sexual activity he wanted to do with the child, telling her he wanted to be “her first” and describing how she was making him “horny”.

He also assured her she would not get pregnant as he had had “the snip”.

During the conversations the defendant also encouraged the girl to perform sex acts on herself.

The court heard 45-year-old Smart also suggested the girl take a “sicky” from school and travel to Swansea so they could have sex in his car, telling her she should pretend to be his niece if anybody raised any questions about them being together.

The defendant was subsequently arrested at his home address, and made admissions to officers about his activities.

He said he believed he had “a bit of an addiction” to chatting online, and he described what had happened as “verbal porn” but he said he should have stopped when he found out the age of the person he was talking to. He denied having any sexual attraction to young people.

Daniel Smart, now of Gelyn-y-Cler, Barry, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity – one penetrative activity and one none-penetrative activity – when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. 

Judge Paul Hobson noted Smart was a father and was in good employment, and he told the defendant that though he may find it difficult to accept it, the fact was he has a sexual attraction to children.

With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas and in accordance with the sentencing guidelines Smart was sentenced to 28 months in prison.

He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

He will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same length of time.