A MAN who travelled from London to Belfast believing he was meeting a child he met online has pleaded guilty to a number of sexual abuse offences against children.
Anil Patel, 31, travelled to Northern Ireland in July 2023 believing he was meeting a 13-year-old girl he had been speaking to online.
However, Patel had in fact been communicating with undercover police officers.
Today, he pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child, arranging the commission of a child sex offence and possessing extreme pornography of children.
"Anil Patel had travelled from London to Belfast attempting to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl, however, he had actually been communicating with our undercover police officers," said Detective Inspector Richard Vasey from the PSNI's Child Internet Protection Team.
"He sent explicit messages to the person he had met online and talked about meeting in real life.
"I want to send a strong message today that my team are working around the clock to identify and bring people before the courts who think their online offending can go undetected.
"It is our absolute priority to protect and keep children safe in our communities and we will continue to proactively target those who contribute to the cycle of child abuse."
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