A 58-year-old man from Amesbury has been found guilty and sentenced for attempting to arrange a sexual encounter with a child.

Kurt Anderssen was found guilty by a jury sitting at Winchester Crown Court of three counts of arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, encouraging/inciting the distribution of indecent images of a child, and two counts of making an indecent image of a child.

Anderssen was handed a custodial sentence of six years and eight months.

The court heard how Anderssen engaged in conversations on social media in which he discussed paying to meet the seven-year-old daughter of the person he was communicating with—for sexual activity. A meeting date was agreed upon but was later cancelled by Anderssen, who expressed doubts about the authenticity of the arrangement.

Anderssen was arrested by Wiltshire Police officers on Thursday, 9 December 2021, at his home address. Several electronic devices were seized, and evidence was found of browsing terms for child sexual abuse material and downloaded files with child abuse titles.

Wiltshire Police continue to work tirelessly to protect vulnerable children and bring offenders to justice. They encourage anyone with information about child exploitation to come forward and report it.