A pervert who sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl he met on a social networking site has been jailed for four years.

Peter Robinson, 36, molested the youngster within hours of meeting her.

The pair agreed to meet after chatting on Facebook.

The court heard that she later told police she thought she was meeting a 17-year-old, although Robinson used his own photo for his profile and made no attempt to appear younger.

The father-of-two said he believed the girl was “about 16 years old”.

Judge Michael Carroll, at Maidstone Crown Court, said he had taken advantage of a child and not a young woman.

“On the face of it, there’s no evidence that you knew she was that young,” he remarked. “But the very act of getting in contact with her and meeting up with a complete stranger is evidence that you didn’t really care what age she was.

“You thought you were going to have your way with her.”

Robinson, of Marina House, John Street, Rochester, admitted sexual assault of a child on June 24 2010.

The prosecution offered no evidence to an offence of rape, which Robinson had denied. Two charges of making indecent photographs and two of possessing extreme pornography were left on file.

Prosecutor Timothy Clark told the court that Robinson collected the girl from Chatham railway station and took her back to his flat.

Within two hours of meeting they went into his bedroom and engaged in what was described as “naked touching”.

Robinson, who has previous convictions for indecent assault and indecent exposure when he was 17, was said to “feel terrible” about what he did and had not used social networking sites since.

Robinson was also made subject to a sexual offences prevention order for five years and ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.