A 25-YEAR-OLD has been handed a suspended sentence after admitting to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Samuel Mannion, of Poppy Drive, Blyth, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on June 1.

At an earlier hearing, he had pleaded guilty to the charge against him which read: "'On Wednesday, November 30 2022 at Ovingham, being a person aged 18 or over, for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification, you intentionally attempted to communicate with a person under 16, who you did not reasonably believe to be 16 or over. The communication was sexual, namely sending explicit images and videos and soliciting sexual images." 

Mannion was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and 40 rehabilitation days.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years and a sexual harm prevention order for the same duration was made.