Adrian Stevens 52

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A man was arrested in a Norwich car park after arranging to meet a teenage boy who turned out to be a police officer.

Adrian Stevens, 50, had arranged to meet a 14-year-old boy he had been communicating with online at a car park in Albion Way, Norwich.

Norwich Crown Court heard Stevens was in fact met by an undercover police "decoy" who he thought had been a teenage boy.

Nicholas Bleaney, prosecuting, said Stevens, who was 49 at the time of the offending, had hoped to have sex when he met the boy.

Mr Bleaney said the meeting came after "significant planning" by Stevens who had offered to purchase gifts and also talked about trips to McDonalds with the decoy.

Stevens, of High Way, Lingwood, appeared in court for sentence on Friday (April 22) having previously been found guilty after trial of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child between August 19, 2020 and September 2, 2020.

He was also convicted of arranging the commission of a child sex offence.

Jailing Stevens for four years, Judge Alice Robinson said he had been the person who suggested a meeting with the person he thought had been a teenage boy but in fact was a police decoy.

Michael Clare, mitigating, said no physical offence was actually committed nor could have been committed, given that the 14-year-old boy never existed.

He said the defendant was an intelligent man with a good job and it was a "terrible waste" he found himself in this position but accepted "he only has himself to blame".

Mr Clare said Stevens was almost 51 and apart from this matter had no previous convictions.

He added the defendant helped look after his mother and had mental health difficulties.

Stevens was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for 10 years and ordered to sign on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.