AN AYR man tried to get a 13-year-old girl to meet him for sex – then begged the teen not to show his incriminating text messages to her mum.

Martin Connor was more than three times the girl’s age when he sent her indecent communications over two days last year.

The 41-year-old, Ayr Sheriff Court heard, wasn’t initially reported to police – but when he was eventually questioned, he tried to deny any involvement before attempting to laugh it off as “a joke”.

Connor, of Craigie Avenue, pleaded guilty last week to communicating with the girl in an attempt to meet her – with the intention that he should engage in unlawful sexual activity.

The offence happened at an address in Ranken Drive, Irvine and elsewhere on April 2 and 3, 2022.

The procurator fiscal depute said the girl was the daughter of a close family friend, and that Connor had been in regular contact with the girl and her siblings.

But the relationship, the court heard, took a turn after Connor made arrangements to meet up with the girl and her sibling – only to then ask that the sibling did not come so the pair “could spend time together”.

Connor then began to discuss sleeping arrangements with her, first suggesting he sleep on the couch while the girl slept in his bed – but then saying they could sleep together.

Connor asked the girl what she would like to do, and told her: “I know what I would do and you would love it.”

The court heard that the girl asked what Connor meant, to which he said he “couldn’t tell her or her mum would kill him”.

After asking the girl if she was alone and in bed, Connor told her “we could have sex” – then asked her not to show the texts to her mum.

The court was told the girl did show her mum Connor’s messages – at which point the girl’s mum blocked his number.

When the teen’s mother did contact Connor, he insisted she was “reading too much into the messages”.

However, a month later the girl’s mum mentioned the incident to a support worker at her daughter’s school – and the incident was reported through the campus police officer.

Police later went to Connor’s home to question him, with the fiscal depute stating that Connor initially denied his involvement before stating that “it was all just a joke”.

After hearing the circumstances from the Crown, Sheriff Murdo Mactaggart deferred sentence until the new year and released Connor on bail.

Connor was placed on the sex offenders register as an interim measure, and will find out how long he must spend on the register when he returns to Kilmarnock Sheriff Court for sentencing.