If prosecutors can’t offer an actual 14-year old girl that the perv “attempted to rape,” the case should be thrown out. There was a recent case in Australia where some guy ordered a sex doll online, and he was charged because the doll LOOKED underage.
I seem to remember a case where a British rock star — maybe Pete Townshend of The Who — was arrested and charged in an internet child porn case years ago. His defense was that he was doing research for a book. The British prosecutor pled him out with a very lenient punishment, allegedly because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to make the charges stick.