Bradford cabbie who attempted to incite schoolgirl to engage in sexual activity jailed

A Bradford taxi driver who attempted to incite a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Naveed Ansari, 46, who sent an image of his genitals to the girl, planned to collect the girl from her school for having sex.

As police officers found viagra tablets, condoms and a receipt for a playsuit in his car, Bradford Crown Court concluded that the married driver “came prepared” to meet the girl.

Prosecutor Richard Walters said Ansari was repeatedly told the schoolgirl was only 13 during conversations on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, the BBC reported.

The offender initially claimed he was aged just 20 and told her he would treat her "like a princess" and promised to buy her presents.

Walters told the court: "He suggested he would buy her a dress and a bra and he showed her images of a teddy bear he had bought for her."

The prosecutor told the court that the taxi driver suggested picking up the girl from her school in his cab and said "no-one would be suspicious because people would think he was just a taxi driver".

When he planned to meet her for the first time in Richmond Hill, Leeds, in October last year, he was confronted by members of the Net Justice online predator hunting group, who detained him until police arrived to arrest him, the BBC report said.

During the trial, Ansari admitted to three child sex offences including attempts to incite a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity.

Recorder Tahir Khan KC said the only sentence that could be justified was immediate imprisonment of Ansari.

The cabbie will be registered as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life.