A London medical student who travelled to Norwich with plans to rape a young girl has been jailed for 10 years. 

Axel Torres-Vargas, 21, is a Mexican national who was living in the US before he came to London on a short-term student exchange in June. 

He unwittingly began an online conversation with an undercover police officer who referred to himself as ‘Uncle Jim’ and claimed to be the uncle of a 10-year-old girl. 

Torres-Vargas revealed his sexual interest in children and sent a number of indecent images of children to the officer. 

The medical student then arranged to travel to Norwich with the intention of raping the young girl. 

On June 28 when he arrived at Norwich Rail Station he was arrested and his devices were seized. 

Over 1,000 indecent images and videos of children were found, including over 300 which showed horrific abuse taking place. 

Officers also found that Torres-Vargas has been communicating with various other people about child sexual abuse. 

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On December 19 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence. 

He also admitted three counts of distributing indecent photographs of children and three counts of making indecent photographs of children. 

Torres-Vargas will spend a further five years on extended licence after his release and will be the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order. 

Detective Sergeant Craig Dixon said: “Torres-Vargas had images and videos of the most disturbing sexual abuse of children stored on his mobile phone. He poses a significant risk of serious sexual harm to children. 

“I hope this sentence sends a message of how seriously these kinds of offences are taken."