Locations
Roman Road, Newham, London, E6 3RY
Description
A man who travelled to a town intent on raping a toddler has been jailed for eight years.
Shahmaan Ahmed, 29, from London, was caught in Reading by police who invented two fictitious children to lure him into a sting in August.
When they arrested him police officers found Ahmed had brought sweets to give to his intended victims.
Passing sentence Judge Kirsty Real said she had no doubt he would have abused the children if they had been real.
The court heard Ahmed had been talking with an undercover officer to arrange sex with two fictitious children, aged eight and three.
Thames Valley Police said when they seized his mobile phone they found evidence of highly-sexualised chat logs involving other children.
A jury found him guilty of four counts of the arrangement of child sex offences in February.
Ahmed, of Roman Road, Newham, London, pleaded not guilty to the offences.
In mitigation, the court was told he felt "a real sense of revulsion over what he wrote" in the messages.
Judge Real, who described the messages as "extensive and abhorrent" also made him subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Online paedophile investigator Det Con Nick Hook said: "Despite the deterrent sentences like this provide, sadly there will always be people out there willing to take the risk.
"We're watching them. You can't be on the internet committing this kind of crime and not expect the police to be involved, and we'll do what we can to prevent this thing happening."
There were 176 arrests relating to online grooming and sexual communication with children across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire last year.