Paedophile who drove 130 miles to abuse 10-year-old girl is jailed

A paedophile who drove 130 miles with the intention of having sex with a 10-year-old girl has been jailed for eight years.

Police officers had been tracking the online activities of 49-year-old Michael Bickerton, and arrested him shortly after he arrived.

They found sex-related items in his car including a cheerleader outfit, a black costume mask, Viagra and lubricant.

Bickerton (pictured), of Minshall Street, Stoke-on-Trent, denied arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence but was found guilty at an earlier trial.

He was jailed at Cambridge Crown Court on Monday, Cambridgeshire Police said.

Police had seen Bickerton used an online chat site and said on his profile that he liked “children from the age of eight years”.

He exchanged messages and swapped phone numbers with someone on the site and made plans to travel to St Neots in Cambridgeshire with the intention of abusing a 10-year-old girl in August 2017.

He was instead met by police officers.

Bickerton was sentenced to eight years in prison, placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely and made subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

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