Jailed: Bow paedophile who tried to arrange abuse while waiting to be deported from Australia after serving child sex offence sentence
Keith Banks was jailed for six years at Basildon Crown Court on July 15. Picture: Essex Police - Credit: Archant
A paedophile who tried to arrange to sexually abuse a child while waiting to be deported from Australia has been jailed.
Keith Banks of Wick Lane, Bow, was in an Australian detention centre waiting to be deported to the UK last September after serving a sentence for child sex offence.
While being detained, he began trying to arrange to abuse a child on his return.
Investigating officer Pc Adam Colbear said: “It is clear Banks intended to commit further child sexual offences in the UK even before he was deported from Australia.
“He used email while in a detention centre to speak to people intent on causing harm to children. He is a dangerous offender who clearly poses a very real risk to children.”
Banks arrived back in the country on October 16 and was put on the Sex Offenders’ Register and issued with a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) but still tried to make the arrangements.
This led the 62-year-old to travel to Rayleigh, Essex, on November 1.
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But when Baker arrived he was arrested by officers in a sting operation led by a police online investigation team.
He was charged with trying to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence and breaching a SHPO.
He admitted the charges at Basildon Crown Court on December 3 and appearing at the same court virtually on Wednesday, July 15 was jailed for six years with a further eight years on extended licence.
An Essex Police spokesperson said that at no point was a child ever in danger of being abused.
Pc Colbear said: “A number of agencies were involved in securing this conviction and sentencing and I want to thank everyone involved.
“It’s excellent partnership working like this which means no sexual predator can feel impervious to law enforcement, even if they’re in a different country.”
