A 50-year-old man sent an inappropriate picture to a person he thought was a 12-year-old girl, a court heard.
But the person Andrew Thomas, of Trevor Road, Beeston, was communicating with online was actually an undercover police officer posing as a girl from Coventry.
He also made inappropriate comments to her and his conduct resulted in officers going to his home and arresting him.
He went on to plead guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child at Nottingham Crown Court
Thomas, 50, is of previous good character and has a background working in IT.
He was given an 18-month community order, 25 rehabilitation activity days, and told to complete a Maps for Change course. He is on the sex offenders' register and will be on a sexual harm prevention order for five years.
Judge Stuart Rafferty QC told him: "You have sunk low, as has been remarked, the price you have paid has been heavy. If you have any sense at all, the only way forward now is up".
