A paedophile from Manea who encouraged who he believed was a young boy to touch himself inappropriately and send explicit images has been jailed for two years.

Simon Martin, 40, began messaging who he believed was a 12-year-old boy on December 27 last year but he was in fact communicating with an Online Child Abuse Activist Group (OCAG).

Cambridge Crown Court heard how over the following month he became increasingly intimate, explaining how sex works and sending explicit images and videos of himself despite knowing his "age".

Martin also encouraged the boy to touch himself inappropriately and send explicit images before asking him how far away he lived so he could meet him.

He was arrested on February 13 after a separate group confronted him at his home in Jolley Close, Manea, and called police.

On Friday July 12 he was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and made the subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) after pleading guilty to inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity and attempt to engage in sexual communication with a child.

DC Chris Smith said: "Martin believed he was communicating with a 12-year-old boy yet continued to speak to him inappropriately.

"His sentence is a clear reflection of the serious risk he posed to children."