A paedophile who arranged to meet and rape a young boy and brought along a fancy dress costume of his favourite Marvel character has been jailed.

Anthony Finnis, 36, drove from his home in Norfolk to Costa in Dartford to meet a man and his young son at a coffee shop in Prospect Place.

He has arranged the meeting through a social media app and he intended on abusing the boy. Instead, he was confronted by an undercover police officer.

Finnis, of Briton Way, Wymondham, Norfolk, who also came armed with a portable massage table and massage oils, thought he was meeting a 12-year-old boy after he'd been communicating with an undercover officer pretending to be the boy's father on Wickr app.

The Wickr instant messaging app allows users to exchange end-to-end encrypted and content-expiring messages, including photos, videos, and file attachments.

Before the meeting was arranged on September 30, Finnis had been talking to who he thought was the boy's father and had even sent indecent images to him of other children on more than one occasion.

He was arrested and was later charged with three offences.

He appeared in court on Monday, October 3, 2022, where he pleaded guilty to arranging the commission of a child sex offence and the possession and distribution of category A and B child abuse images.

He was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday (June 23) and to eight years in prison sentence with a further four years on licence once he is released.

Investigating officer, DC Michelle James, from Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team, said: “Finnis had arranged this meeting online with the intention of abusing a young child.

“He had even brought with him a Thor fancy dress costume as he believed this was the boy’s favourite Marvel superhero.

“Finnis described his sexual desires in great detail during online conversations and had every intention of fulfilling them. His motives were clear, and we stopped him in his tracks.

“Our team will continue to do everything we can to proactively target those people who seek to commit sexual offences against children and ensure they are brought to justice.”