Primary school teacher jailed for stalking teenage girls for online sex chat Kevin Christie, 40, posed as a 25-year-old sports coach to message girls One youngster of 16 sent Christie a topless picture of herself Another 13-year-old girl was asked what sexual experiences she had His wife, neighbours and teaching colleagues were unaware of his activities He has been sacked and jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty Judge Pamela Badley said the messages had been a 'deliberate encounter' Kevin Christie has been jailed for 12 months at Preston Crown Court for leading a seedy double life A respected teacher's career lay in ruins today after he was jailed for leading a seedy double life as an internet predator who stalked teenage girls using online messaging services. Married Kevin Christie, 40, secretly got his thrills in between classes at his Church of England primary school by posing as a 25-year-old sports coach to engage girls in 'sex chats' on Blackberry Messenger and Skype. One youngster of 16 sent Christie a topless picture of herself after he told her she was 'truly beautiful and he had fallen for her'. Another girl aged just 13 and who lived in Scotland was asked what sexual experiences she had with her boyfriend. Christie, a Year 3 teacher at the 538 pupil Baines Endowed Primary School near Blackpool, Lancashire, was arrested after the 13-year-old's mother found sexually explicit messages on her daughter's mobile phone. Police found over 320,000 lines of Skype instant messages under his Skype username. His wife, neighbours and teaching colleagues were unaware of his activities. At Preston Crown Court, Christie bowed his head in shame as he was jailed for 12 months. He pleaded guilty to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and possessing an indecent photograph of a child. He has since been sacked from his job. None of the girls were pupils at his school. Prosecuting, Mercedeh Jabbari said the Blackberry Messenger chat with the 13-year old Scottish schoolgirl had taken place between January 18 and February 22 last year after Christie initiated it by saying, 'Hey how are you I'm Jamie, 25, M, UK'. The girl responded with her name adding that she was 13, F (female) and from Scotland. Christie would say how the girl looked older than her age and that her 'boyfriend is lucky'. One message read: 'He must love getting on you'. The prosecutor said the messages continued in an explicit manner with Christie asking what sexual experience she had and encouraged her to elaborate on it. When she responded 'poked', he asked 'like that?' Adding, 'you need to do it more if it was just alright'. He also said: 'You do it to yourself too I hope.' Police later searched Christie's home in Thornton-in-Cleveleys which he shared with his wife and seized his Blackberry and computer tower. He was arrested and later suspended from his job. In interview Christie accepted there was Blackberry messaging between him and the girl despite knowing she was only 13. Miss Jabbari added: 'He denied obtaining any sexual gratification and said he regularly conversed with girls. But what is clear, the conversations are of a sexual nature and are to females. He had engaged in conversation with the 16-year-old between 25th February and 1st March 2013. They were of a sexual nature, he called himself Jamie Johnson and told her she was truly beautiful and that he had fallen for her. Having been told by her that she was taking a course in sport he said he was also a sports coach and personal trainer and offered to help her. He asked to see her pants and all of her. The conversation led to him asking her to remove her top and she has sent that image of herself. Christie was a Year 3 teacher at the 538-pupil Baines Endowed Primary School near Blackpool, Lancashire He admitted to making these calls and it had become a habit and a problem for him. The court heard Christie never met up with any of the girls but eventually accepted he had obtained sexual gratification. In mitigation Mr Robert Golinski said: 'There is a sense of bafflement of those around him of how he came to commit this kind of offence. It is not something anybody who knew him had the slightest suspicion of. His pleas are accompanied by genuine remorse for his actions and genuine shame at the way he has conducted himself. He has as a result of his actions lost everything. 'He has lost obviously his good name, he's an educated man, he had a good job and good career prospects and is a man of positive good character. He has also lost his marriage, the relationship of 17 years. Mr Golinski said Christie's marriage was in difficulty towards the end of 2011 and he had been in a fragile mental health state, suffering a breakdown in October 2011. He added: 'He effectively retreated into himself online and created his own virtual reality with an alternative personality where he was able to justify to himself. 'He didn't understand the seriousness of what he was engaged in. He made no efforts to contact the girls or obtain their addresses and contact details. There was no physical contact between him and the child. Christie was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders" Register for a period of ten years, and was given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order until further order. Passing sentence Judge Pamela Badley said: 'You engaged in a deliberate policy of seeking out a child who was young enough to be interested in engaging in sexual chat with someone who you pretended to be. Messaging: Christie said there was messaging between them despite knowing she was 13 In real life you are a 40-year-old man with plenty of experience of life and indeed detailed knowledge about children through your work. You were undergoing some problems in your relationship and you sought the virtual reality into the seedy world in which you felt you were able to engage with the young girl pretending to be someone else. 'There has been some suggestion that you were somewhat naive and didn't understand the seriousness, I find that hard to accept. Your whole career has to do with looking after the welfare of children. Judge Badley said the messages had been a 'deliberate encounter'. The fact is that you sought to engage with a 13-year-old in sexualised talk, it was a deliberate encounter in which you engaged upon. This was certainly something unknown to your colleagues, your wife and neighbours - all of whom considered you to be an entirely respectable individual. The lie you were maintaining was that you spent a considerable amount of time involved in Skype over sexualised nature. You did not touch this child but you engaged with her in a way, sometimes called mind games. undoubtedly it will have an effect on her in the future when she realises what was taking place. 'You are well thought of by those who you weren't aware of the activities you were undertaking. There is a deep revulsion for those who seek out remote sexual activity with young girls - this is something which was clearly a sexual thrill as far as you were concerned. You were someone who was employed for the welfare of children. You had a considerable amount of trust placed on you by members of the community. You engaged upon this communication quite deliberately - the gravity of this is to be marked by immediate custody. After the case Det Sgt Kevin Wright of Lancashire Police said: 'Christie's actions were reprehensible, using technology to prey on two young girls in separate parts of the country for his own gratification. This behaviour will no doubt horrify members of the public, particularly those who are parents of teenage girls, and it is right Christie has been jailed for his actions.