Leeds teacher wanted sex with Filipino girls as young as four Published duration 3 May 2019

image copyright National Crime Agency image caption James Alexander planned to travel to the Philippines to have sex with young girls, Leeds Crown Court heard

A former music teacher has been jailed for five years for plotting to sexually abuse young girls in the Philippines.

James Alexander, 42, was caught after sending money to known facilitators who live-streamed child sexual abuse from Illigan City.

Leeds Crown Court heard he asked for images of girls aged nine and six "posing in a certain way" and asked what the youngest "would do with him".

He also said he wanted to have sexual relations with a four-year-old.

Alexander, of Beeston Road, Beeston, Leeds, admitted arranging the commission of a child sex offence, three counts of attempting to cause a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and one count of making indecent images of a child.

In addition to his sentence, he was given a five-year sexual harm prevention order banning foreign travel, and was made to sign the sex offenders register for life.

Alexander was arrested on 30 June 2018 at Manchester Airport as he flew into the UK from Thailand where he had lived since 2017.

National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators seized his electronic devices, which showed he sent at least 15 money transfers to facilitators between August 2017 and June 2018.

Alexander - who taught in Leeds and Malaysia before moving to Thailand - also tried to arrange to travel to the Philippines to abuse girls himself, the NCA said.

In one conversation, he discussed meeting young girls in a hotel and asked the facilitator: "Are you going to bring them both with you and stay also? You'll show them what to do."

Hazel Stewart, NCA senior investigating officer, said: "Alexander clearly tried to manipulate and exploit the poverty of the vulnerable in order to gratify his sick sexual desires.

"He believed he could abuse Filipino children safely from his home and wanted to visit the Philippines to carry out the sexual abuse himself."