Paedophile who travelled to St Neots to meet 10-year-old is jailed

Michael Bickerton, aged 49, of Minshall Street, Stoke-on-Trent, used a website to chat to other paedophiles and specified in his profile that he liked “children from the age of eight”.

After initially engaging in conversation over email, he swapped phone numbers with someone he had met on the site, and in August last year he made plans to travel to St Neots with the intention of abusing a 10-year-old girl.

Under police surveillance, he arrived at and agreed place at midday and shortly after his arrival he was arrested and was found to have sex-related items in his car.

The following day he was charged with arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

Bickerton denied the allegation against him and faced trial in February, however a jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict after just two hours of deliberation.

On Monday he appeared at Cambridge Crown Court and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

He was also made subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

While sentencing, Judge Sean Enright, said Bickerton had an entrenched sexual interest in children, which was reflected in his sentence.

Detective sergeant Kath McCready said: “From the moment he was arrested Bickerton denied he had any intention of meeting a girl, that he believed the girl to be fictitious and was instead planning on meeting another man for sex.

“In his interview he stated that numerous messages where he had spoken about the meeting and other conversations about sexually abusing children were merely fantasy.

“We are dedicated to keeping young people safe and the sentence passed reflects how seriously this kind of offence is taken.”

For information and advice relating to this matter please visit www.cambs.police.uk/childprotection. To report concerns about a child contact police on 101 or dial 999 if they are in immediate danger.