A 53-year-old Suffolk man who paid a schoolgirl to strip naked and pose on his bed has been jailed for 30 months.

Sentencing David Allan, Judge Rupert Overbury said he had groomed the teenager in order to satisfy his “sexual lust”.

“It seems you had seen this young girl and expressed a sexual interest in her. She was just under 16 and she decided extremely foolishly to engage in your sexual fantasies for money,” said the judge.

Allan, of Hitchcock Place, Sudbury, admitted inciting a child to engage in sexual activity on five occasions last year and three offences of making a total of 10 indecent images of children, including one in the most serious level A category.

In addition to being jailed Allan was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.

Brian Reece, prosecuting, said the offences came to light after a relative of the schoolgirl contacted the police after telling Allan to stop contacting the girl.

He said that when the victim went to Allan’s home she would take off her clothes and lay naked on his bed.

Allan had given her instructions about how to position herself but had not touched her and afterwards she had expected to be paid, said Mr Reece.

The victim was accompanied by a friend during her visits to Allan’s house but the other girl had remained clothed and her attendance wasn’t requested by Allan.

Mr Reece said a large number of text messages were exchanged between Allan and the victim about what the girl would do and how much she would be paid.

After his arrest Allan claimed the girl had been trying to get him to pay for sexual favours but nothing of a sexual nature had taken place.

Joanne Eley, for Allan, said her client had no previous convictions.

She said his life had fallen apart when his wife had an affair and left him in 2018 and this was followed by the death of his mother.

Allan had a strong work ethic but had been furloughed during the coronavirus pandemic and had subsequently been laid off.

Miss Eley told the court Allan had suffered from depression since his wife left him and was very lonely.

She said Allan appreciated he should have put a stop to what was happening.

“He made some totally inappropriate decisions during this period of time. He can’t turn the clock back but he is genuinely remorseful and clearly regrets what he did,” said Miss Eley.