A man who schemed to rape children as young as six was revealed at his trial to have been a police informer who spied on environmental activists.

Nick Gratwick, 68, was found guilty on Friday of 38 “abhorrent” paedophile offences, including plans over the last two years to pay to rape or sexually assault children in the UK and abroad.

The trial at Guildford crown court, in Surrey, heard the contents of graphic conversations on encrypted applications which were described by the National Crime Agency (NCA) as “some of the worst seen by specialist child abuse investigators”.

Gratwick discussed harming children for sexual pleasure, arranging to pay a Romanian mother to allow him to rape her daughter, and advised others on how to drug children to abuse them.

The radio engineer, of Mitcham,

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