Pensioner jailed after driving 100 miles to meet 13-year-old girl.

A 78-year-old paedophile has been jailed after travelling over 100 miles to meet an underage girl who turned out to be a police decoy.

Leslie Gearing, from Chatham, Kent, drove to Central Park in Peterborough on February 20th after exchanging sexually explicit messages and images with what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl online.

The "girl" was in fact an undercover police officer, and Gearing was arrested upon his arrival in Peterborough as part of a pre-planned operation by the Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT).

A search of Gearing's car revealed child-size underwear, sex toys, and camera equipment. Further investigation at his home uncovered over 30,000 indecent images of children on various devices, along with more sexual communications with children and adults, including attempts to arrange sexual activities with minors.

At Cambridge Crown Court on September 18th, Gearing was sentenced to three years and 11 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including making indecent photographs of a child, attempting sexual communication with a child, causing a child to watch sexual activity, distributing indecent photographs of a child, possessing extreme pornographic images, and attempting to meet a child under 16 following grooming.

DC Cheryl Lee from POLIT stated, "Gearing, through his self-serving depravity, was prepared to travel more than 100 miles with no care for the physical and emotional damage he would have caused by engaging in sexual activity with an underage child. The items he brought with him show just how much of a risk he poses to children. Thankfully he has been exposed and caught and will be held accountable for his actions."