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A father who asked an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity has been given a suspended prison sentence.

The man from Bulwell, Nottingham, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given a 10-month suspended jail term.

Nottingham Crown Court heard the man, 42, had approached the undercover policewoman in the Mapperley area in July believing her to be a prostitute.

He admitted trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child.

You have a duty of care to your son to look after his moral welfare, not to break him into the ways of sex through a prostitute
Judge Jonathan Teare

The court heard the father was arrested during an undercover operation by the city's vice squad.

The man drove up to the undercover officer and asked her how much she would charge for sex with his son, who was sitting next to him in the car.

Judge Jonathan Teare said he was not sending the father to prison because of his previous excellent character and that he believed he did not mean any harm to his son.

He said: "What you were doing that night was to expose your 14-year-old son to a prostitute because you didn't know she was a police officer."

"You have a duty of care to your son and that is to look after his moral welfare not, as you might think, to break him into the ways of sex through a prostitute."

The father's barrister Matthew Smith said: "There is a thorough sense of shame the defendant feels."

"It's completely at odds with every other part of his character."

Mr Smith added that the boy would be allowed to continue to live with his father.

The defendant will be placed on the sex offenders register for five years.

SOURCE: BBC News Channel