An application for a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) for a father-of-two who was caught in an undercover police sting after he travelled to Ipswich with the intention of meeting a fictitious 13-year-old girl for sex has been adjourned until next week.

John Beswick, 53, travelled from his home in Lincoln to The Cricketers pub in Ipswich on December 7, 2021, to meet a man he believed to be the stepfather of a teenage girl.

Beswick had been communicating with the man, named Robbie, online since November after he initiated contact via a Russian photo-sharing website, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

However, 'Robbie' was actually an undercover police officer posing as the stepfather of a decoy 13-year-old girl called Riley.

Andrew Thompson, prosecuting, told the court the undercover officer, who had the profile name Dirty Dom UK, had received an email from Beswick's ProtonMail account.

From there, the pair started communicating and Beswick was told 'Robbie' had access to his 13-year-old stepdaughter for the purposes of sexual activity.

As the online conversation continued, there was "enthusiasm shown by Beswick to a real meeting", Mr Thompson told the court.

A category B indecent image of a child dressed in a bondage outfit was uploaded by Beswick and on November 30, discussions were specific about a meeting with sexual activity taking place, the court heard.

On December 7, Beswick met the undercover officer at The Cricketers at 2.12pm, and had with him a packet of M&M peanut sweets, which he was told were the girl's favourite, Mr Thompson said.

He told the officer he had around two hours for the meeting and had concocted a cover story for his visit to Ipswich.

Following his arrest, Beswick claimed to police that he was acting in the public good and trying to find out the identity of the stepfather.

Beswick, of Thorpe Lane, Lincoln, admitted distributing an indecent image of a child and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and in May he was jailed for 30 months.

He was also made subject to notification requirements until further order.

An application for a SHPO was due to be heard on Tuesday (July 5) but was further adjourned until July 12 to allow the defence to consider the terms of the order.