A 58-year-old beast who was snared by a vigilante group while trying to groom teenagers online has been given a Community Payback Order.

Philip Penders made lewd comments to what he believed were two 14-year-old girls, promising to top-up their mobile phones in exchange for topless photos.

But the pervert was speaking to two members of a vigilante group called Child Protectors Scotland (CPS), who then ambushed him at his home in Kilwinning’s Muirside Court.

As the Times reported last month, Penders appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court and pled guilty to two charges.

Sentence had been deferred for reports and the 58-year-old returned to the court last Tuesday (August 14) to hear his fate.

Penders contacted his first target – a 14-year-old girl called Sam – on December 12 of last year.

Unbeknown to him, the profile of Sam had been set up by a 49-year-old CPS member.

Flirty messages were exchanged between the pair, with Penders urging Sam to send topless pictures of herself.

In return for the images, Penders said he would reward Sam with mobile phone credit.

When the girl refused, Penders became angry and sent her graphic images of female parts with vile messages.

Penders struck again when a 27-year-old male member of CPS set up a with several conditions relating to his internet use – for instance, he is prohibited from deleting his online history and he must similar online profile of a teen called Amy.

Believing the girl to be only 14, Penders also requested topless pictures of her in exchange for phone credit.

The pair behind the Sam and Amy profiles confronted Penders at his home on December 29. They live-streamed the encounter on Facebook and Penders was subsequently arrested.

During police interview, Penders accepted that he spoke to the two profiles but claimed that he did not think they were 14 and that he believed they were lying about their ages.

Returning to court this week, Penders was placed on a Community Payback Order with supervision for three years.

As part of the order, he must attend a programme for sex offenders and will have to abide with several conditions relating to his internet use – for instance, he is prohibited from deleting his online history and he must provide police with any passwords.

Penders was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for three years.