Anthony Birch – Windsor, Berkshire

A supermarket night manager who arranged to meet a mother so he could sexually abuse her six-year-old daughter has been jailed after walking into an undercover police sting.

Anthony Birch, 26, travelled to Chelmsford with condoms and lubricant in his car, believing he was about to meet the woman and child.

But the supposed mother was a police officer. There was no little girl.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Birch went as far as rearranging his shifts at Sainsbury’s to pursue the meeting.

Jailing him for nine years on October 8, Judge Mary Loram KC said: “You went to some lengths to complete your aim of raping that girl.”

Birch will serve six years in custody before spending the remaining three years on licence.

The court heard he began exchanging messages in July with an undercover officer using the name “Courtney”. After their conversation moved to Telegram, the officer told him she had a six-year-old daughter.

Birch sent an explicit photograph and described sexual acts he wanted to involve the child in.

He later spoke to the officer by telephone and arranged to meet in Chelmer Village, Chelmsford, where he believed he would be introduced to the girl.

Police arrested him shortly after 11am on July 27. Officers found condoms and a tub of lubricant in his car.

Birch had previously admitted intentionally arranging a sexual offence, alongside making and distributing indecent images.

The judge said his messages revealed no concern for the child he believed existed or the devastating harm his intended offending would cause.

“Not once did you ask about her welfare. You cared only about your desires,” she told him.