A SOUTHAMPTON man who sent a lewd photo to a teenage girl and her mum was caught out after his clothing was recognised, a court heard.

Karl James Lyons created a fake Facebook profile and used it to ask the girl to send him nude photos of herself.

The 20-year-old also threatened to share the girl's information online and sent her and her mum a photo of his penis.

Lyons, of Leaside Way, appeared in front of magistrates having pleaded guilty to two offences under the Malicious Communications Act earlier in the month.

Dan O’Neill, prosecuting, said on June 7, 2016, Lyons sent the girl and her mum friend requests on Facebook through a fake profile.

He said the mum accepted the request, but immediately deleted the account from her friends list after spotting it contained no accommodating information.

The court heard that the girl did not accept the request, prompting Lyons to start sending threatening messages from the profile.

Mr O’Neill said one message told the girl to "co-operate" with the request otherwise her information would be shared on Facebook.

He added that another asked for photos of the girl in her underwear.

Mr O’Neill said while this was happening, Lyons was encouraging the girl to comply with the profile’s demands, telling her to “do it for your mum, she must be scared.”

The court heard that further "obscene" messages were sent from the profile, asking for naked photos.

Mr O’Neill said a photo of a penis was sent from the profile which upset the girl, prompting her to show the image to her mum and sister.

The court heard that Lyons was caught out after clothing on the floor in the photo was recognised as his.

He was linked to the fake profile before the matter was reported to the police.

In mitigation, Susan Ridge described the incident as “quite bizarre” and one that had "troubled" the probation service.

She said Lyons was of previous good character, but comes across as “very young” and “immature”, adding that no-one was quite clear why he had carried out the offences - himself included.

She also told the bench that a custodial sentence would do nothing in the longer term to address the "underlying issues" of why Lyons committed the offences.

Alistair Reeve, chairing the bench, described the offences as “deeply concerning” and said they demonstrated “bizarre behaviour”.

He said: “For that reason, we are going to impose what we consider the most sensible sentence.”

Lyons was handed a 12-month community order with 40 days of rehabilitation activities and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay an £85 victim surcharge and £40 costs, and was given a one-year restraining order.