A PERVERT who was caught with condoms and Viagra trying to meet a 14-year-old 'boy' for sex has been spared jail.

When Martin Edwards turned up at the rendezvous site in Oxford police were instead lying in wait.

After he was arrested following the undercover sting operation he told officers that he believed the decoy boy was only 'pretending to be a child' and was really an adult.

READ ALSO: Botley West Way tower refused planning permission.

The 47-year-old of Kelly's Road, Wheatley went on to admit one count of arranging a child sex offence.

He was sentenced for that crime at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

Outlining the case prosecutor James Keeley said Edwards began talking to what he believed to be a 14-year-old boy on dating application Grindr.

In fact the 'child' was really an undercover police officer.

The pair communicated for a number of hours on a single day on May 5 this year.

Images were shared and the conversation turned illicit, with discussions on sexual preferences.

At one point Edwards asked the 'boy' to take a picture of his open mouth, unsmiling.

A rendezvous was arranged and Edwards drove to Gladstone Road, Headington, in order to meet up with the decoy child.

When he arrived, however, the police were lying in wait and Edwards was arrested and taken to Abingdon police station.

He was found to have in his possession condoms and Viagra.

At the station Edwards gave a prepared statement where he claimed he thought the child was 'simply pretending to be a child.'

READ ALSO: Abingdon monk statue: Why was he wearing a red cloak?.

He said that he believed that the boy he had been talking with had been an adult all along.

In mitigation Michael Goold, defending, said the offence was 'unsophisticated' and there was no evidence of his client having any previous sexual interest in children.

He went on to say that Edwards suffered with numerous health ailments and had previously been of 'exemplary' good character with no other previous convictions to his name.

Sentencing, Judge Nigel Daly said: "You tried to meet a boy who you knew to be under 16, you thought he was 14, and the purpose of that meeting was to be for penetrative sexual activity.

"This was an undercover police officer, when you attended you were arrested.

"Nothing happened, nothing could have happened because no such person existed and no harm could have come to such a child."

Edwards was jailed for 18 months, suspended for 18 months and he must complete a further 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He must also pay a victim surcharge and court costs of £670.

Edwards was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register and obey a sexual harm prevention order for a total of 10 years.