A paedophile litter picker who claimed in sexually explicit online chats with young girls to have been a youth worker has been jailed.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that Mark Clover, from Folkestone, communicated with a 12-year-old girl via WhatsApp over a four-and-a-half month period and tried to get her to send him an image of her naked breasts.

Their conversations between March and July 2019 began innocently, with Clover telling her he was a "good and loyal person" and she was "beautiful".

However, they were soon filled with references to puberty, male genitals and a sex toy.

When that chat came to an end after his perverted request for the topless photo was refused, Clover moved onto Kik messenger where he told his 14-year-old victim he was looking for "role play and maybe love".

But he claimed during his trial he was not responsible for any of the deviant conversations, despite admitting to police after his arrest that his phone was with him "24/7, nines times out of 10".

A former flatmate also described Clover as being "very possessive" over the device.

The 36-year-old, however, told the court he would lend his phone to others to use, and spoke of his email account being hacked.

Clover, who was a volunteer litter picker in Folkestone between November 2018 and July 2019, also dismissed his "brief" use of a TeenChat app as being for role play and finding people of his age to date. He claimed that an online search for child pornography related to his coursework for an NVQ in childcare.

The Trinity Gardens resident denied inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child, and attempted sexual communication with a child.

But he was unanimously convicted on all charges after jury deliberations lasting just one hour.

At the start of his trial, prosecutor James Lofthouse said it was "absurd" to suggest anyone other than Clover was responsible.

Not only were the explicit chats discovered on his phone but they also contained unusual spellings and words such as "Hay" instead of "Hey", "Hugz" for "Hugs" and the regular use of "He he" - all of which were found in his more innocent, day-to-day messages.

Police also found sexually explicit internet search terms in respect of underage girls including "virgin rape" and "10-year-old porn videos", the court heard.

After asking his younger victim to send him a topless photo he apologised and said: "I was truly not trying to be a paedo."

The jury heard he then told the girl, who had expressed a concern about her breasts: "I'm a trained nurse but I have been a youth worker as well."

Although Clover's 12-year-old victim was traced by investigating officers, the identity of the older girl was never discovered, said Mr Lofthouse.

During cross-examination, Clover maintained he was "100% positive" he had not engaged in explicit chats with young girls and said he found the allegation he made numerous searches for child pornography as "quite upsetting".

Asked by Mr Lofthouse why, as a man in his 30s, he went on TeenChat, he told the jury he believed it was a role-playing app and he was looking for dating matches.

At this point, the prosecutor said: "What sort of matches were you looking for on TeenChat?"

Clover replied: "I was looking for people between the ages of 29 and 30. I didn't realise it was that kind of chat."

But Mr Lofthouse retorted: "Teen. Isn't the clue in the word?"

Passing sentence on Wednesday, Judge Simon Taylor KC told Clover his warped actions were neither "a one-off nor a one-victim offence" as he jailed him two years and seven months.

Philip Romans, defending, told the court Clover was dyslexic, had been diagnosed with an emotional personality disorder, and was on benefits.

It is not known if Clover, who has no previous convictions, ever officially worked as a youth worker.

On his release, he will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order and will have to sign on the sex offender register indefinitely.