A homeless woman with learning difficulties agreed to sleep with who she believed to be a 13-year-old boy for £10.

Her friend set up a fake Facebook account posing as a child and propositioned her for sex, to which she agreed.

Leanne Curnoe, aged 22, of Alma Place in Redruth, pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years.

Her and her then-boyfriend had been evicted from their flat, and she was trying to raise money to fund her heroin addiction at the time of the offence.

Sentencing her at Truro Crown Court today, judge Simon Carr said: "The circumstances of this offence are as sad as they are troubling.

"[Reports] show that you had a very difficult childhood indeed."

He went on to say: " You left home far too young and spent a significant amount of your adult life street homeless. You found yourself addicted to heroin.

"You were forced to find other ways of raising money. To your credit, having had a heroin addiction for many years, you only have two convictions for shoplifting.

"You did not choose that route. Instead you chose the route of selling your body," he said.

In the messages between Curnoe and the fake profile, the supposed 13-year-old asked "What do I get for £100?"

To which Curnoe replied "Everything."

She then agreed to meet him in September of 2017 outside the homeless shelter in Basset Street, Camborne, where the friend who set up the fake profile spotted her.

Judge Carr added: "There was a rumour among the homeless community that you were doing that with underage children. It has all the hallmarks of a rumour.

"One of your friends, and I use that word in the loosest sense, attempted to entrap you. You were prepared to have sex with [the boy] for £10 to raise the money you needed.

"There was no young boy, it was a complete fiction. I give you credit for a plea entered at the first opportunity at crown court.

"I have seen a very full and extremely detailed psychiatric report. It indicates that you have marked learning difficulties," he said.

Her defence solicitor said that she has not taken heroin since Christmas and now has a prescription for methadone.

As well as the suspended prison sentence, Curnoe will have to undertake a 25-hour rehabilitation programme.