A Canterbury nurse with a cannibalism fetish has today been found guilty of arranging to meet a teenager he groomed after telling her he planned to chop off her head and eat her.

Dale Bolinger had revelled in disgusting fantasies in which he claimed to have devoured a five-year-old child.

But now a jury at Canterbury Crown Court has decided he did go to Ashford International station, believing he was meeting a 14-year-old Mexican girl.

Married father Bolinger was remanded in custody by Judge Adele Williams, who said: "I need a psychiatric report so I can judge what risk you pose."

Psychiatrists and probation officers will now decide just how dangerous he is before sentence in September.

Bolinger sat in the dock with his head bowed and did not react as jurors delivered their guilty verdict to a charge of attempting to meet a girl under 16 following sexual grooming.

The 58-year-old, formerly of Davidson Road, had tried to claim he was just out to shock the sick users of a website known as Dark Fantasy Network.

It was there he began talking to someone who claimed she was a 14-year-old girl living with a cousin in Germany. She claimed she wanted to be beheaded.

Bolinger – who worked at the QEQM Hospital in Thanet – said he believed he was talking to a man rather than a child and he was just fantasising.

But the jury heard he arranged to meet "Eva" at Ashford - and the day before their rendezvous went to Homebase, in Broadstairs, and bought an axe.

"Having discussed with her his fantasies in relation to her on more than one occasion, he made arrangements to meet her with the intention of committing a sexual offence on her..." - prosecutor Martin Yale

And they were also told he had attacked a woman two years earlier by putting a dry cleaning solution-soaked cloth over her face.

Bolinger also had a stash or some of the sickest child pseudo-images... depicting youngsters in an oven or being barbecued.

He was arrested after an FBI investigation in America into internet chats about rape, murder and cannibalism.

During the American probe, Bolinger's email address –
meatmarketman@rocketmail.com – turned up and disturbing chalogs were then sent to Kent Police.

Bolinger travelled to Ashford International station in September 2012 to meet "Eva", whose true identity has never been traced.

But the pair had talked on the internet about "how he would murder her with an axe or cleaver and then eat her".

Prosecutor Martin Yale had told the jury: "DFN is a website for those who fantasise about various things, including cannibalism.

"One of the users that Bolinger befriended on DFN was someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.

"And having discussed with her his fantasies in relation to her on more than one occasion, made arrangements to meet her with the intention of committing a sexual offence on her."

The prosecutor claimed he had told her of the "sorts of sexual acts he would perform on her both before and after her death".

He said in some of the chatlogs, Bolinger had made "graphic reference to sexual abuse, murder and cannibalism of women and children of a wide range of ages, including a baby".

Mr Yale added: "There were discussions about how much more tender the meat is from children. During some of the conversations, Bolinger comments about sexual arousal, clearly showing that he received sexual gratification from his fantasies about cannibalism.

"During the chatlogs Bolinger also claimed to have eaten a 39-year-old black woman and a five-year-old child and images of females were clearly being exchanged with other users."

Police later raided his home and seized a camera that had a shot in which Bolinger is seen holding an axe – a selfie with the weapon he said he was planning to use.

"However, Eva did not arrive, something about which he challenged her in the final entries of the Eva chatlog the following afternoon," added Mr Yale.

"It is apparent that his intention when he travelled to Ashford International station was that he would meet 14-year-old Eva and a sexual offence would take place."

The nurse was interviewed by police in February last year after being identified during an FBI investigation into a former New York police officer.

He later pleaded guilty to 10 other offences, some of which relate to internet chat room communication with several other people.

Bolinger pleaded also pleaded guilty to an offence of administering a poison or noxious substance "with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy" on a woman in July 2, 2010.

He told jurors how he targeted work colleague Urlene King four years ago by putting a cloth soaked with dry cleaning fluid over her face when she visited his home.

Det Insp Rob Chitham said: "This was a long and complicated investigation because much of the evidence was in the USA. In addition, the people who use fetish chatrooms go to great lengths to hide their identity and specialist knowledge and equipment is needed to determine who they are and where they live.

"We worked closely with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in America to identify one of the chatroom users as Mr Bolinger.

"A painstaking search for evidence both at his home and elsewhere then began so that we could bring him to justice."

Bolinger was remanded in custody ahead of sentence on Friday, September 19.

Judge Williams told the jury they will never have to serve again, telling them she understood how "distasteful" the case must have been for them.