A sex predator who stalked his young victims on Facebook has been locked up for nearly five years.

Jonathan Paige pretended to be as young as 11-years-old to groom at least 50 teenage girls on Facebook and other social network sites.

He used the profiles Dirty Lisa and Dirty Dag to win the trust of his victims before quizzing them about their sex lives.

Last night detectives warned other criminals that the internet “is not a place to hide."

The court was told how the 31-year-old, of Shelley Road, Worthing, persuaded one schoolgirl to give him her mobile phone number and then bombarded her with texts saying he was Jon and wanted to meet her.

Detective Sergeant Simon Dunn, who led the investigation, welcomed the sentence.

He said: “Paige is a predatory paedophile who groomed young girls between the ages of 12 and 15 and actually met with one of them.

“He was involved in explicit incitement and grooming on Facebook but there was no physical sexual activity between them.

“He would purport to be a young girl in a relationship with an older man after gaining their trust.

“We informed schools that this person was offering 'her' friendship on Facebook to other girls and they should be wary of any contact.

“The schools are well educated in dealing with these circumstances and the children are also well informed about the dangers.

“However, Paige preyed upon the more vulnerable and it is obviously a concern that in this case one of the girls did go to meet him.

“It does not take much in the way of flattery and false compliments being offered by these people to build up a trust with their victims.

“Sussex Police are pleased with the sentence at the end of an investigation which lasted five months.

“It shows people who use the internet for this type of activity that they will be caught.”

Chief Inspector James Asser added: "We police the internet as we police the public domain.

“It does not give the anonymity people think it does. We are far more sophisticated than people would believe. The internet is not a place to hide."