Paedophile who drove 130 miles with cheerleader outfit in car to meet 10-year-old girl is jailed

Michael Bickerton exchanged numerous messages in chatrooms about abusing children

Michael Bickerton was jailed for eight years (Cambridgeshire Police)

A paedophile who drove 130 miles to have sex with a 10-year-old girl with a cheerleading outfit in his car has been jailed for eight years.

Michael Bickerton, 49, was tracked by police after officers saw his online chatroom profile, which stated he liked “children from the age of eight years”.

Bickerton exchanged messages and swapped phone numbers with someone on the site and made plans to travel to meet the girl.

He was instead met by police officers after travelling from his home in Stoke-on-Trent to St Neots in Cambridgeshire last August.

Bickerton denied arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence but was found guilty after a trial at Cambridge Crown Court in February. He was jailed earlier this week.

“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," said Detective Sergeant Kath McCready, of Cambridgeshire Police.

“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.”

But judge Sean Enright said Bickerton had an entrenched sexual interest in children, which was reflected in his lengthy sentence.

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

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