Civic leader admits sex charges

Lightfoot sent images of himself in a state of undress

A former deputy mayor of Harrogate has pleaded guilty to three charges of asking a 13-year-old girl for sex.

Morris Lightfoot, 55, of Dryden Close, Bilton, Harrogate, has been placed on the sex offenders' register and will be sentenced later this month.

Magistrates were told he was caught in a sting operation in which he believed he was sending e-mails to a 13-year-old girl on a social networking website.

The girl was in fact an administrator of the website who then alerted police.

'Grooming' accusation

Harrogate Magistrates' Court was told that Lightfoot, who logged on under the name Moozzaa, had asked the girl if she wanted to lose her virginity to him even though she repeatedly made it clear she was only 13.

He had suggested a meeting with the girl in Harrogate and had sent her pictures of himself in a state of undress, though none had been deemed indecent.

Prosecutor Alison Whiteley said Lightfoot's attempts to engage a girl in sexual activity amounted to grooming.

Lightfoot's solicitor told magistrates that the Lib Dem councillor, who represented Bilton on Harrogate Borough Council and Bilton and Nidd Gorge on North Yorkshire County Council, had gone on to the internet to research anti-social behaviour.

He could give no explanation why Lightfoot, a married man with two sons, had asked the girl for sex.

The case was adjourned until 31 October.