Man who travelled from Norwich to carry out child sex offences has been arrested

A man who travelled from Norwich to Surrey with the intention of sexually abusing a six-year-old girl has been sentenced to prison.

Peter Rider, 40 and formerly of Ivory Road in Norwich, exchanged various messages with a man, who he believed had a stepdaughter.

Rider described in these messages how he would like to carry out sexual acts against the child.

He discussed plying her with alcohol during email and telephone conversations and on 23 September, 2016 drove to meet the man in Caterham, Surrey.

When they met Rider encouraged the man to collect the child, unaware he had in fact been communicating with an undercover police officer.

At around 11.30am he was approached and arrested by detectives from the Kent Police Paedophile Online Investigation Team.

A search of Rider’s car revealed items including bags of sweets, believed to be intended for the child, and a USB memory stick.

A forensic examination of the memory stick revealed it contained 409 indecent images of children. Of these, 38 images were classed as Category A, the most serious level.

During police interview Rider said he hadn’t intended to carry out any offences against the child, claiming it was simply a fantasy.

Rider later appeared before Maidstone Crown Court, where he pleaded guilty to arranging the commission of a child sexual offence, as well as four counts of possessing indecent images of children.

On Friday 31 March, 2017 he was sentenced to three years in prison.

He also received an indeterminate sexual harm prevention order, which will place restrictions on any future contact with children and on his use of the internet.

Detective Constable Jon Baker of Kent Police’s Public Protection Unit said:

‘Peter Rider made it explicitly clear that he intended to commit very serious sexual offences against a young child.

It was only when faced with the consequences of his actions that he claimed the detailed plans and effort he had made were only make believe.

‘We will do everything in our power to proactively target people who seek to commit sexual offences against children and ensure they receive a prison sentence. It is clear Rider is a risk to the public, and he now faces the consequences of his abhorrent desires.’

Protecting and serving the people of Kent