A Household Cavalry soldier who plotted to rape a young girl and a 10-month-old baby has been jailed for 12 years.

Warning - story contains details some may find upsetting

Graham Jarvis, 38, struck a deal with a woman he met online to sexually abuse her children, and planned to travel from his central London barracks to her home in Wales to commit the offences.

However, he was actually chatting with an undercover police officer posing as the mother.

Jarvis was sentenced to 12 years in prison for two counts of attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday.

Jarvis, who was living at barracks in Hyde Park, denied the offences but was convicted at trial and subsequently kicked out of the Army.

He has been ordered to serve at least two-thirds of his 12-year prison term.

Judge Adam Hiddleston told Jarvis "this was not a case of fantasy on your part", after deciding the soldier was serious about raping the children.

Mr Hiddleston said he had no doubt that, when the meeting was set up, "you believed the children were real.

"You wanted to meet them and when you did, with the assistance of their mother, you intended to rape them."

He said he read Jarvis's messages "with horror", saying they betrayed his "cold and clinical" treatment of the children and willingness to "treat them simply as objects to satisfy your urges".

Jarvis began talking online with a woman living in Wales who said she had two daughters aged seven and 10 months, in January 2024, the court heard.

Jarvis, who told her he was "into girls", began to set up a meeting at the woman's home in February, but was arrested that month.

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While online, the soldier had asked the mother about her older daughter's sexual experience, and was told she had previously been abused by two men.

Turning to the baby, Jarvis asked the mother to help him carry out the rape.

Lisa Wilson, representing Jarvis, told the court he was "at a low ebb" due to a "traumatic period" when he committed the offences.

Telling Jarvis that he may pose an ongoing risk to children, the judge ordered him to serve at least eight years of his term behind bars, with two extra years on licence added to his sentence.

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