Image copyright Kent Police Image caption Simon Rouen was arrested at Heathrow on his return from the Antarctic

A scientist who committed child sex offences while working at the South Pole has been jailed for three years.

Simon Rouen, 36, from Redruth in Cornwall, was arrested by Kent Police as he arrived at Heathrow Airport.

He had communicated with two undercover Kent Police officers to say he wanted to abuse an eight-year-old girl.

Rouen was convicted of arranging the facilitation of a child sex offence, as well as 10 counts of possessing indecent images of children.

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) laboratory manager exchanged emails with officers from Kent Police's paedophile online investigation team, with the final one being sent in March 2014 from Chile as he was on his way back to England.

He was returning to the UK after finishing a six-month stint at the BAS Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Image copyright AP Image caption Rouen spent six months at the British Antarctic Survey's Rothera base

Rouen was found guilty on all counts at his trial at Maidstone Crown Court in January.

'Very real desire'

At a sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, Rouen was also told he would be placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Det Con Jo Gordon from Kent Police said: 'Throughout the course of the emails he sent, Simon Rouen demonstrated a very real desire to sexually abuse the child when he returned to England.

"Fortunately, through our proactive investigations, we were able to identify the risk he posed to children and intercept him before any child could be abused."

A spokesman for Cambridge-based BAS said Rouen no longer worked for the organisation.