A SEX offender who chatted to 'paedophile hunters' posing as 14-year-old girls walked free just days after a Worcester teacher dodged jail for doing the same thing.

Mark Bunyan, who claimed he was 'not a proper perv', is the second sex offender to be given a suspended sentence this week by the same judge sitting at Worcester Crown Court.

The other online child predator was disgraced former Blessed Edward's teacher James Ndungu who also believed he was chatting to 14-year-old girls.

Both are married fathers caught in online stings by adult decoys posing as schoolgirls - and, in both cases, their wives have decided to forgive them and stand by them, the court heard.

Ndungu, 45, of Hillside Close, Worcester was sentenced to 15-months in prison suspended for two years on Tuesday, two days before 55-year-old Bunyan received a similar sentence.

Worcester's top judge - Judge James Burbidge QC - who spared both men an immediate jail sentence, said he understand 'public disquiet' about sex offenders not going to prison. However, were he to send Bunyan and Ndungu to jail, the sentence would be overturned in the Court of Appeal, he said.

Bunyan of Back Lane, Malvern, had already admitted two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child for the purpose of sexual gratification, both decoys set up by a so-called 'paedophile hunter group' called Soloceptors.

The company director, who runs Pinnacle Fabrications Ltd based in Shrub Hill Industrial Estate in Worcester, used a false name online (the surname Hilton).

He also lied that he was 32 years old and from Oxfordshire, his profile picture showing a man's chest, as he chatted to the decoys via Kik on January 7 this year.

Grace Ong, prosecuting, said a chat began with the defendant and an adult posing as a 14-year-old girl. "She asked to see a picture of him. He sent a picture of him and his penis exposed" said Miss Ong.

When the decoy replied with a shocked face emoji, 'he said he just wanted to prove he was real', the prosecutor explained.

He communicated with a second decoy on January 10 this year, asking for naked photos and gave his WhatsApp number in case she could not get on the Kik application.

He made no arrangement to meet any child but did arrange to meet a 30-year-old woman on January 16 this year at 2.50pm only to be confronted by someone from Soloceptors.

Bunyan was sitting in his Range Rover when police arrived at around 3.40pm and arrested him.

"He was searched. In his left jacket pocket was a packet of condoms. Mr Bunyan told police that was because he was going to meet someone" said Miss Ong.

A search of his home revealed four plastic sex toys. He was interviewed under caution on January 17 this year.

Miss Ong said: "He was asked about the significant comment he made when in custody where he said he was 'feeling embarrassed, tricked and it's not like I'm a proper perv'. Mr Bunyan said he was embarrassed about being in trouble. He said the chat was silly and a bit of fun. He said it did get sexual and he was being encouraged to send explicit images of himself."

Bunyan also said he had been 'coerced' into sending the photographs. Judge Burbidge said: "It is of great concern to the court and of great concern to the public at large that you engaged in this chat and moreover that you felt the need to send pictures."

However, the judge also took into account that Bunyan had an elderly mother with dementia for whom he was the carer and dependents - a wife and child and that he also ran a business which employed five people. The custody threshold had been crossed but Bunyan had not been assessed as 'an ongoing danger or risk to the public' and also had no previous convictions at all.

Accepting that there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, the judge said the maximum sentence he could impose was two years in prison.

He also cited the example of Malcolm Stephenson where an immediate prison sentence of 12 months was imposed for attempted sexual communication with a child. On appeal the sentence was quashed and in its place was imposed a six month prison sentence suspended for two years.

Judge Burbidge said: "If I were to send you immediately to prison, Mr Sheward (Bunyan's solicitor, Mark Sheward) would go straight to London and he would likely have a successful appeal." Bunyan was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for two years, ordered to complete 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 120 hours of unpaid work.

Further to this he must register as a sex offender for the next 10 years and pay £250 costs.

A sexual harm prevention order was made which prohibits him from owning more than one mobile phone and from working with children under 16, whether paid or unpaid. Unsupervised contact with children under 16 is also prohibited.