A MAN who travelled from Scotland to North Wales to meet a teenage boy was caught by an undercover police officer, a court heard.

Robert McNaughton engaged in an online conversation with the officer who claimed to be a 14-year-old and arranged a meeting.

But when he got off the train at Rhyl he was arrested, Mold Crown Court was told.

He was also caught engaging in sexual chat in a chat room where he asked one member if he had a camera so they could masturbate and he tried to arrange a meeting with another, who claimed to be aged 13, in London.

Jailing McNaughton for 26 months, Judge Niclas Parry said: “You clearly have a deep sexual interest in young boys. You were imprisoned in 2003 for sexually abusing a boy in a public space.

“Now you have been attempting to get young boys to engage in sexual activity.

"You were devious and you made attempts to meet three young boys.”

McNaughton was also placed under the restrictions of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

Barrister Andrew Green, prosecuting, said when the undercover officer asked if it was all right him being a 14-year-old boy, McNaughton responded by saying: “Are you okay with me being 22?”.

He then claimed to be a student in Glasgow and that his mother was calling him down for dinner.

“He shifted the conversation to sexual chat and said he would like to masturbate him,” said Mr Green.

“He used various means to groom and encourage.”

After his arrest police also found three child sex movies on his phone, one of which was classed as Category A in terms of its seriousness.

McNaughton, 43, of Napier Place, Glasgow, pleaded guilty to nine child sex charges.

He admitted three counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence.

He also pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child and attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming

The court was told that he was deported from New Zealand after he was imprisoned for an indecent assault in 2003.

Defence barrister Simon Killeen said: “The public would be better served keeping close control of this man in an environment other than prison.”

Investigating officer PC Chelsea Symonds-Roberts, of the North Wales Police Paedophile Online Investigation Team, said after the sentence was announced: “McNaughton mistakenly believed he was undetectable and not only attempted to commit online abuse against children, inciting them to commit sexual acts, but also travelled to North Wales with the intention of committing further serious physical sexual abuse to meet his own twisted sexual fantasies.

“North Wales Police work closely with partner agencies and those who seek to exploit the internet for such vile acts are monitored and will be prosecuted.”