A SEX offender who tried to get a 14-year-old girl to engage in a sex act over the internet has been warned he could be facing jail.

Gary Palmer was caught because Phoebe, the girl he thought he was contacting, was in fact an undercover police officer.

After hearing the 37-year-old had been jailed in the past for similar matters a judge warned him to expect further time behind bars.

Palmer accessed internet chat rooms at the start of February, in breach of an order imposed when he was jailed at Salisbury Crown Court in 2009.

At the same time he tried to encourage what he thought was a schoolgirl to carry out sex acts on herself online.

Palmer, of Sparrow Street, Trowbridge, pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual offences prevention order, attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and possessing extreme pornography when he appeared at Swindon crown court.

Nicola Talbot-Hadley, defending, said that he had been subject to probation from his release in 2014 until August last year.

When he was arrested last month he told police he was struggling at the time, but fearful of being recalled to custody again so did not tell his offender manager.

She said that while the matters he was before the court for are serious, no child was actually harmed as he was in contact with a police officer.

Although custody is likely she asked for a pre-sentence report to assist the judge decide what to do with him.

Remanding him in custody Recorder Ed Burgess QC adjourned the case to April 10 telling him "In all probability it will be a custodial sentence."

Palmer was jailed for five years with a three year extended licence after admitting a raft of offences in Salisbury.

He had contacted girls under 13 online and persuaded them to undress and carry out sex acts on themselves while he watched on a webcam.

The pervert also distributed indecent photographs of children and was found to have more than 800 images of child abuse.