A MAN has been sentenced to six years in prison after attempting to meet an 11-year-old girl for sex.

Stuart Hope-Kirk, 55, unemployed, of Lennox Avenue, Chichester, was sentenced to a total of six years imprisonment when he appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday.

He admitted attempting to incite a girl under 13 into sexual activity and attempting to make a girl under 13 watch a sexual act. 

For these two offences he received sentences of five years for each one, to run concurrently. 

He also received an additional one-year sentence for breaching a suspended sentence imposed at Lewes Crown Court in 2015 for a fraud offence.

Detective Constable Jon Tizzard said; "Hope-Kirk will be a registered sex offender for life and was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to last until further notice, severely restricting his access to children and computers.

"He was arrested in Chichester on August 16 after officers were called to Spitalfield Lane where he had gone to meet what he thought was an 11-year-old girl he had met via the Internet.

"In fact he was met by a group of adults, who contacted.the police."