A 70 year-old man posed as a teenager in a "subtly creepy" way to have sexualised online chats with two 12-year-old girls.

Peter Pipe visited sites popular with teenagers pretending to be a boy of 15 or 16 years old, Norwich Crown Court heard.

Barnaby Shaw, prosecuting, said the first victim told him she was 13, although she was in fact 12, and he had engaged in sexualised conversations with her.

Mr Shaw said the mother of the victim contacted police after she discovered the messages and when Pipe was arrested and his devices examined, police found he had also been talking to another 12 year-old girl, asking if she would like to be his first serious girlfriend.

Police also found one indecent image of a girl aged 14 to 16.

In an impact statement, the first victim said she was disgusted when she found out she had been talking to an old man and said he spoke to her in a "subtly creepy" way.

Mr Shaw said the offence made the victim feel unsafe and stupid and the mother of the second victim said her daughter felt betrayed by what happened.

Pipe, of Post Office Road, Lingwood, admitted two charges of engaging in sexual communication with a child and possession of one indecent image.

The offences took place between August 26 and September 20, 2019.

Recorder David Herbert imposed an eight-month jail sentence suspended for two years and Pipe was placed on the sex offender register for 10 years.

Pipe was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and made to pay £425 costs.

Recorder Herbert told Pipe his actions deeply impacted his victims, saying: "To be used in this way by an old man would disgust them."

However he accepted his behaviour stopped seven months before his arrest.

Damien Moore, for Pipe, said it was a fantasy and he had no intention of ever meeting the victims.

He said since matters came to light, Pipe had sought counselling and was willing to get help: "They were sexualised messages but importantly perhaps they were never acted upon."