A man who engaged in sexual communications with what he believed was a 13-year-old girl has been warned he faces up to five years in prison. 

Andrew Rundle, 51, of York Road in Great Yarmouth, admits two charges of inciting and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. 

Norwich Crown Court was told he had indulged in explicit chat online with a profile that he thought was a young girl but was in fact a decoy account. 

Rob Pollington, prosecuting, said messages showed there had been a substantial amount of communication including references to masturbation. 

Judge Katharine Moore agreed to a defence application to adjourn his sentencing to allow for a mental health assessment into his culpability. 

But she told Rundle: “The seriousness of your offending means the custody threshold has been passed by a significant margin.” 

Danielle O’Donovan, mitigating, said his loneliness had seen him “take steps he doesn’t recognise in himself”.

“He is a very vulnerable man with no outlet or company other than his mother,” she added.