Glenn Jones: Former police inspector jailed for arranging to meet child for sex

Retired officer claimed he was just 'curious' after being caught at shopping centre

Glenn Jones, 56, was caught by police at a shopping centre after arranging to meet his target there (South East Regional Organised Crime Unit)

A former police officer who arranged to meet a child for sex has been jailed.

Glenn Jones, 56, claimed he was just “curious” after being caught at the shopping centre where he planned to meet his intended victim.

The former Thames Valley Police inspector pleaded not guilty to commissioning sexual activity with a child.

But he was found guilty by a jury and jailed for three years and six months at Guildford Crown Court.

Investigators said Jones had been communicating with his target from early August 2018 until the planned meeting in September last year.

He travelled 50 miles journey from his home to a shopping centre in Shoreham, but was greeted by officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit and arrested.

Detective Inspector Emily Evans, who led the investigation, 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.”

Jones, of Tonbridge, was previously jailed for downloading thousands of indecent images of children – including babies – in 2015.

The jury in that case heard he had tried to hide an incriminating laptop behind a toilet cistern at his home, and had been collecting the images as a serving police officer and sharing them with other paedophiles in chatrooms.

In the 2015 case, Jones was handed a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and ordered to sign the sexual offenders’ register for a decade.

After the latest conviction on Tuesday, he was told he will serve three years on licence after being released from prison.

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

Det Insp Evans said: “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.”