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A MECHANIC who tried to buy a 12-year-old girl for sex was jailed for three years.

John Robson, 35, pestered one of his regular prostitutes to find him a child.

He bombarded her with calls and text messages for three months but she was so sickened she told the police.

Anna Mann, 21, saw Robson for “business” every week for three years as he toured Thornaby’s red light area in a red pick-up truck or estate car.

The pregnant vice girl added: “He asked me if I knew any young girls working as prostitutes. I asked him what age and he said 12 or 13. I said ‘I do not know any girls of that age that are working’.

“He said if I found a child to ring him or text him, and he would ring me straight back.”

Mann told Teesside Crown Court: “I was disgusted. I was so disgusted I went to the police.”

He texted: “Heard owt of 12 lass, let me know” and on police instructions she texted back asking what he meant.

He phoned her a few days later asking: “Have you sorted a 12-year-old for me yet?” and she said “No, and I’ve reported you to the police”.

Ian West, defending, said: “It’s a question for the jury of asking is that going past the preparatory stage?”

Robson of Thorpe Crescent, Horden, Peterlee, was found guilty of attempting to arrange the commission of a sexual offence with a girl under 13 between January 1 and March 20, 2007.

He was jailed for three years and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

It was a retrial for Robson who was first convicted in January last year, and he later won an appeal.

He is due for release in July having already served 387 days. Mr West said they were considering another appeal.