A 61-YEAR-OLD man from Lower Wick urged a 15-year-old girl to perform sexual acts in an internet chatroom and arranged to meet her at a Dorset water park, a court heard yesterday.

Barry Williams, from Lower Wick, near Dursley, who used the name 'Baz the diver' online, was sentenced to 32 months in prison at Gloucester Crown Court on Thursday after pleading guilty last month.

He was also told he will have to sign the sex offenders register for life and he was given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Prosecuting, Janine Wood said that between August 12 and 27, Williams had tried to persuade the girl, who is from Hertfordshire, to go to a naturist event at Splashdown water park in Poole, Dorset, so he could see her there.

Using the name 'Baz the diver' he engaged the girl in sexual chats, asking personal questions.

He pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

"He tried to go to Splashdown with the intention of meeting the girl and her sister," she said.

The girl never went to Splashdown although Williams did go, said the prosecutor.

He had also suggested he knew a man who would take photographs of her and that he would lie about her age to get her into various premises.

"There was an element of grooming about it," said Judge Ian Lawrie QC.

"He has got a dark secret lurking in his soul."

Williams said: "A fantasy got into my head."

"This was a contrived exercise in seduction - you are a very troubled soul." said Judge Lawrie.

Defending, Alexander Barber said: "He has an addiction to internet chat rooms. He has sought help for his addiction and has been to see his GP but the places he has been referred to only work with drug or alcohol addiction."