Paedophile travelled 370 miles to rape girl after exchanging explicit messages with mother

A paedophile travelled 370 miles from Glasgow to Luton expecting to rape an eight-year-old girl. He brought along 48 condoms, a sex dice, a cuddly toy, two dolls, a money box and a jewellery box, a court has heard.

Robert Burns, 48, made the journey to Luton Airport in Bedfordshire after exchanging explicit messages with a person he believed to be the girl's mother via a Russian website. He said on his profile that he likes girls aged nine to twelve. He expected a child would be provided for him.

However, he had been talking to police. Prosecutor Martin Mulgrew described the arrest, which was made as part of an investigation. Burns was taken into custody when his 370-mile coach journey arrived at Luton Airport.

Burns was jailed and ordered to register as a sex offender yesterday (17 November) after pleading guilty to arranging to commit a child sex offence. He appeared in court from Bedford prison.

A search of his flat unearthed the children's toys, as well as pictures of teenage girls hanging on his walls.

Mulgrew told the court: "He said it was only a fantasy and said he saw no harm in being interested in children," according to the Daily Record.

Pamela Brain, assigned to Burns's defence, he had been "living an isolated life" after stopping work as a chef due to a back injury.

She said he was "spending a lot of time on his computer and was drinking a lot. He was very depressed and became involved in this matter."

Burns was handed a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence by judge Michael Kay QC, after which he will be monitored for a further four and a half years by probation officers. During this period he could be recalled.

Kay said to Burns: "You have no insight into the effect of what you planned would have psychologically let alone physically on a child of eight. It was A) wrong, B) evil and C) out of step with what any reasonable person would think."