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A former police inspector has been jailed for more than three years for arranging to meet a child with the intention of abusing them.

Glenn Jones, 56, of Tonbridge in Kent, travelled to a shopping centre in Shoreham, Sussex, where he believed he would be meeting a child.

He was confronted by officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit on 25 September 2018 and arrested.

Det Insp Emily Evans said the sentence reflected Jones' "abhorrent intention".

He pleaded not guilty to the commission of an offence of sexual activity with a child, but was unanimously convicted by a jury at Guildford Crown Court.

The former Thames Valley Police inspector was previously convicted of making indecent images of children and made to sign the sex offenders' register in 2015.

'Previous conviction'

Det Insp Evans said: "Jones had travelled a significant distance from his home in Kent with the full intention of meeting a child to abuse them.

"It is clear that he has not learned from his previous conviction, and I am therefore pleased that he has been handed a custodial sentence reflective of his abhorrent intentions.

"Child abuse is one of the most repugnant crimes we deal with, and I'd like to reassure everyone that reports of this nature will always be investigated fully and sensitively, regardless of the current or past profession of the parties involved."

Jones was sentenced to three and half years imprisonment, with a further three years on licence.

He was handed a sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offenders' register for life.