A Southampton man has been jailed after he was caught sending sexual communications to an undercover police officer, who he believed was a child.

Christopher Jay Swaine, 41, of Foundry Lane, appeared at Southampton Crown Court last week where he was sentenced to three years and ten months in prison.

Swaine was identified by police via covert conversations with two fictional 12-year-old girls, with the final messages culminating on Christmas Eve, 2021.

He was arrested and, following an examination of his mobile phones, charged with two offences of attempted sexual communication with a child and two charges of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

He admitted all offences at court in April.

As well as his prison sentence, Swaine will also be on the sex offenders’ register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

PC Ollie Green, of Hampshire police's Internet Child Abuse Team, said: “The conversations that Swaine had with his fictional victims were particularly predatory and we are pleased that he has now been jailed so that he cannot go on to cause harm to children in the real world.

“Protecting children from exploitation is one of the most important missions that we, the police, have.

"This is an example of effective proactive policing in action, and I would like to extend my thanks to all those involved in this case, whose hard work has resulted in a potentially dangerous offender being brought to justice.”

He went on to say: “I also hope that this sentence will alert others to the dangers of the digital world - Swaine used the app ‘Kik’ to communicate with his fictional victims but there are many other ways that children communicate online today, and we urge parents to remain vigilant and seek support if something doesn’t seem right.

“We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously and would encourage anyone who has been a victim of child sexual abuse to contact police on 101 where you can speak with specialist, experienced officers in confidence.”