At Bolton Crown Court, Roger Brown, prosecuting, said the offences came to light after one of the girls told a teacher she had “gone to a man’s house to see his kittens and he took his clothes off”.

Police became involved and visited Brown at his home in Ena Crescent, Leigh, where they seized of mobile phones and a camera.

Interviewed later, Brown said he had been very drunk when the two girls, who had been playing in his living room, locked him in the kitchen.

After managing to escape he had gone into the living room where the six-year-old had asked him to take his top and underwear off.

He admitted he had been naked in front of the two girls and one of them had touched him intimately.

The prosecutor added: “He went on to say he had concerns about how children had were provided with sex education and that was the reason why he had in his possession two books of a sexual nature.”

Officers found four indecent images on the camera and Brown told them the girls had been taking pictures of themselves while they were alone.

Passing sentence on Brown, who pleaded guilty to possessing indecent photographs of children and causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity, Recorder Ciaran Rankin said he felt “constraints” put on the pensioner could allow him from drawing back from a prison sentence.

“These young girls were in your front room undoubtedly having been induced to visit you because of the kittens and that is of concern,” he said.

“Worryingly you have suggested that they took the lead with these offences.

“The pre-sentence report has concerns about your attitude towards young children, not least because of the literature that was found in your house and while you have not been charged with grooming, the use of these pets could be considered by some as grooming.”

He imposed a 36-month community order with a requirement to complete 60 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement.

“In my view this is a package that will ensure you will get the required professional advice and direction you need to overcome issues that may be lurking in the background,” he added.

Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard how Morton, 34, was part of a group of fellow paedophiles who would share the images and videos between them and offer advice to each other on how not to get caught.

Ben Lawrence, prosecuting, said Morton had appeared at Bolton Crown Court in 2013 after downloading more than 4,000 pornographic images of children but was handed a suspended sentence after probation services said he “did not provide a direct risk to children under 18”.

He was found to have broken the terms of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order in 2016 when police officers seized his laptop containing over 1,000 indecent images of children.

Four years later, a total of 6,032 images – including 623 in the most severe category A – were found on Morton’s devices after officers from GMP’s Sexual Crime Unit executed a search warrant at his address on Tuesday, March 3 2020 following information that indecent images had been distributed at an address linked to Morton.

These images consisted of victims who Morton had been in direct contact with via his social media alias, and of other widely-shared images of children which he had received from other like-minded individuals.

One of the devices was a Samsung Galaxy phone which appeared as though there had been an attempt to snap the device in half prior to the police gaining entry.

The sheer extent of Morton’s offending quickly became clear to investigators as substantial amounts of evidence repeatedly showed him befriending boys online with a view to grooming them for sexual gratification.

Morton also had multiple social media accounts a number of which were under the name of a 13-year-old girl and used a profile picture of a teenage girl taken from her Facebook profile.

Mr Lawrence described how Morton would use this persona to contact teenage boys and “encourage them to perform sexual acts”.

“He made them believe they were communicating with an attractive teenage girl who was interested in them sexually and with whom they were exchanging sexual images on a private basis,” said Mr Lawrence.

Morton had installed software enabling him to record the children performing sexual acts and would distributed these images to like-minded paedophiles.

“Evidence showed the group discussed targets and the sort of images they would like to obtain or the sort of sexual behaviour they would like victims to participate in,” said Mr Lawrence.

Police identified 14 of the victims – aged between eight and 15 at the time of the offences – from across the UK and USA.

Between November 2019 and February 2020, Morton began communicating with two teenage brothers in the USA and encouraged them to have sex with each other which he recorded.

Another boy who was targeted was just eight-years-old with Morton persuading him to send ten images of himself which were distributed around the group.

Morton was later charged with 21 child sex offences and admitted each count at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday, February 4 2021, as well as three separate counts of making indecent images and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.

Passing sentence, Recorder Geoffrey Payne described Morton as a “prolific and predatory sexual offender.”

“You are undoubtedly dangerous and have a record of offending that shows you seek your own gratification at the expense of young, vulnerable people,” he said.

“Your activities were calculated an devious and systematically targeted young people which you have done in the teeth of court orders.”

Morton was sentenced to 16 years – 10 of which will be spent behind bars and six on licence – and ordered to sign the sex offender’s register.