An Exmouth leisure centre worker who sent an obscene selfie video on Skype was trapped by an undercover police officer who posed as a 14-year-old boy.

Gerald Moors, 61, made contact with the officer, who was using the false name of Mark, in an internet chatroom, and started sending sexual messages within minutes.

He then asked to move the conversation to Skype where he was recorded on his webcam for 33 seconds exposing and touching himself.

Moors claimed he knew it was a trap when he gave evidence at Exeter Crown Court, but it took a jury less than an hour to reject his defence and find him guilty.

He used the screen name Old Fool when he contacted the undercover officer on the Chat IW site in February 2019, where the officer was posing as a 14-year-old with the username Curious Teen.

The officer clearly stated that he was 14, despite which Moors carried on a sexual conversation and filmed himself masturbating on a Skype call.

Police found four indecent images of children on his laptop which he said had been sent to him unsolicited by chatroom users.

In a police interview he said he spent a lot of time on chatrooms and thought many other users lied about their identities. He said he did not believe Mark was a child and went on Skype to ‘play him at his own game’.

In evidence, Moors said he knew he was dealing with an adult undercover officer and claimed the policeman had also been masturbating on the Skype call.

Moors, of Green Close, Exmouth, denied attempted sexual communications with a child and attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

He was found guilty of both counts and Judge Anna Richardson adjourned the case for a probation pre-sentence report.

She told him: “The report will address what led you to offend in this way and look at the risk of you offending again in this way. It is in your interests to speak openly and frankly to probation.

“The jury have rejected the account you put to the court and speaking openly does not include reiterating that account.”