A CHILDCARE worker has become the youngest defendant to be sentenced for sexual involvement with a 13-year-old boy from the Bradford area who met a succession of older men on the internet.

Levi Manley was 16 when he exchanged fantasies and indecent pictures of himself with the child over several weeks in 2011, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Manley, 20, of Bridgnorth, Shropshire, was the 13th man to be sentenced in connection with the vulnerable Bradford boy's sexual experimentation.

He contacted men on internet chat rooms and was sexually abused by some of them after arranging to meet them.

Manley pleaded guilty to four offences of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The court heard he never met the younger boy but the pair exchanged more than 1,100 text messages and sent one another intimate photos of themselves.

During the investigation, text messages were discovered from Manley and indecent images of him on PingChat on the child's phone.

Manley's solicitor advocate, Ray Singh, said he was ashamed and very remorseful.

Judge Jonathan Rose said, although only 16 at the time, he had contributed to the boy's suffering and that of his family.

He sentenced him to a 12 month community order with supervision.

He must register for five years with the police as a sex offender and Judge Rose made an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning him from contacting his victim.