War crimes investigators once claimed Angelina Jolie offered to be part of a plan involving US special forces to try and catch Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony in 2012.

A French investigative site called Mediapart obtained 40,000 International Criminal Court (ICC) documents which contained emails between the actress and former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, The Sunday Times reported.

The court has been tasked with cases of genocide and other war crimes.

The report said Jolie's now-estranged husband, Brad Pitt, was supposed to be part of the plan to lure Kony out of hiding.

However, it never came to be.

An email sent by Mr Moreno Ocampo at the time read: “Forget other celebrities, she is the one...She loves to arrest Kony. She is ready. Probably Brad [Pitt] will go also.”

According to the newspaper, Mr Moreno Ocampo was hopeful that the couple would travel with US special forces to Central African Republic and that would draw Kony out of an armoured compound, allowing for his capture.

He said in one exchange to “invite Kony to dinner and then arrest him," implying Ms Jolie volunteered to be some sort of bait US forces could use.

The Oscar-winning star and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for refugees sent a reply to Mr Moreno Ocampo that said: “Brad is being supportive. Let’s discuss logistics. Much love Xxx.”

In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Show all 12 1 /12 In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Oryem Kenneth, 42 Oryem was abducted by the LRA for two days in 2003. They cut off his lips and ears with a knife and his fingers with an axe Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Maracillina Amee, 68 In the early 1990s, Ugandan LRA soldiers attacked Maracillina's village, killed her 10-year-old daughter and cut off her nose with a knife Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Lucy Lamara, 51 In 2003, Lucy was shot through the mouth by an LRA soldier and lost an eye. The wound still bleeds and she suffers almost constant headaches Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Oyaka Evelino Jalon, 52 The LRA removed Oyaka’s eye with a bayonet and cut his torso during an attack on his village. Almost 50 people died in the massacre Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Oryem Kenneth, 42 Oryem Kenneth, 42, was abducted by the LRA for two days in 2003. They cut off his lips and ears with a knife and his fingers with an axe Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Unnamed mutilation victim No one knows how many people were maimed by the LRA in northern Uganda – yet thousands are thought to bear the scars. Mutilation – the hacking away of lips, ears, noses, hands and feet, with pangas (machetes), scissors and knives – was the group’s grotesque calling card. Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Dorina Adjero, 68 Dorina Adjero’s husband, Luzy, 41, and youngest son, Ben, 20, were bludgeoned to death with wooden posts in an LRA attack on their village in December 1991. ‘I am still scared even though Kony isn’t here anymore. I believe he is possessed by evil spirits. He is a monster.’ Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Norman Okello, 30 Norman Okello was abducted when he was just 12 years old. Still only a child, he was brainwashed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and forced to kill and maim his own Acholi people in northern Uganda. ‘I have learned how human beings are weak and I have also learned you can do anything when somebody is forcing you.' Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Geoffrey Okello, 24 Geoffrey Okello’s younger sister was brutally killed by Ugandan Army soldiers when he was just five. ‘We found dead bodies everywhere. My sister was lying on the road and her head had been smashed in at the back. We have never had any condolences from the Ugandan government.’ Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Martin Olanya, 72 Martin was at hospital with his youngest daughter when a 30-strong rebel group struck his village. ‘Even now I still feel a lot of anger. Maybe it is just too much to see the faces of returned child soldiers when your heart and mind are not yet mended.’ Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Neckolina Lakot, 72 In December 1991, when returning home after spending the night in the bush to avoid LRA attacks, Neckolina’s family encountered a group of rebels lying in wait on the road to their village. ‘I am getting old and I might not live much longer to tell my story to others and I feel that it’s important to tell it publicly so that there is a permanent document of what happened here.’ Christian Aid / Will Storr In Kony's shadow: Lord's Resistance Army survivor stories Magdelena Lamunu, 70 Sheltering two young children, Magdelena watched helplessly as rebels abducted her teenage son. He has still not returned from the bush. ‘I am sharing my story to help me to forget it – it relieves me of the pain I’ve been going through.’ Christian Aid / Will Storr

Kony, the leader of Lord’s Resistance Army, was accused in 2005 of kidnapping and conscripting approximately 30,000 children as soldiers and sex slaves and has evaded capture since then.

Ms Jolie, a mother of six and longtime champion of children’s causes, told The Telegraph in 2012: “He’s an extraordinarily horrible human being.”

Ms Jolie and Mr Moreno Ocampo were not strangers before the email exchange. She had gone to the ICC at The Hague, Netherlands to watch him prosecute Thomas Lubanga of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the first person to ever be convicted by the court.

Lubanga and his group were found guilty of ethnic cleansing, rape, torture, and conscripting child soldiers.

The Mediapart documents show that communication between the two tapered off after the Kony email exchange.