A pervert who corrupted a 16-year-old girl into becoming a prostitute after he posed as a teenager in an internet chatroom is facing jail.

The girl twice agreed to have sex with Daniel Gribbin for money because her mother was seriously ill and she feared being in debt.

Gribbin, 42, drove almost 46 miles in his BMW car from Margate to Maidstone and paid the teenager £50 to have intercourse with him.

Following his conviction, Gribbin was remanded in custody and will be sentenced within six weeks.

Maidstone Crown Court heard during the first meeting, a condom split and Gribbin paid the girl an extra £20 to get the morning after pill. She also took it after the second occasion.

Prosecutor Peter Forbes said although girls could legally have sex at 16, they were protected from prostitution under the age of 18.

Shaven-haired Gribbin pretended to be a 17-year-old girl in a chatroom called Tagged in 2012.

The girl, who cannot be identified, received a message from a girl claiming to be of a similar age, who asked if she wanted to earn some money having sex with men for money.

She needed the money and took a phone call from a man calling himself Dean and agreed to meet him.

Prosecutor Peter Forbes said Gribbin drove from Margate to Maidstone in July 2012 in his sporty BMW with front red leather seats. The rear seats had been removed.

They went to a park and Gribbin gave her £50 before they had sex. He gave her the extra £20 afterwards. He asked to meet her again and she agreed.

They did so four days later and again had intercourse in the park. They met a third time the same month, but nothing sexual happened.

Gribbin, of Westmarsh Drive, Margate, denied causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography with a girl under the age of 18 and two charges of paying for the sexual services of a child in July 2012, but was convicted.

He told police he did not pay the girl for sex, but did not give evidence at his trial.

The jury of seven women and five men were then told that Gribbin had a caution in March 2012 for phoning and texting "sex workers" asking them if they wanted to have sex with him.

Adjourning sentence for a report on dangerousness, Judge Martin Joy told Gribbin: "You have been convicted of inciting a 16-year-old child to become a prostitute and paying her for sex.

"The evidence was overwhelming. Perhaps for that reason you didn't give evidence.

"A custodial sentence is inevitable. Fortunately she did not become pregnant, albeit that twice the morning after pill had to be administered to her.

"I have no doubt the effect on this girl was enormous psychological damage. That was obvious from her evidence in which she broke down. It demonstrated the enormous shame she felt."

The judge added: "One of the aspects of it was she was doing this because her mother was seriously ill and she did it for money to help with household bills."

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