Cannibalism fetish nurse Dale Bolinger jailed for nine years Published duration 25 September 2014

image copyright PA image caption Dale Bolinger told police he found children interesting as a food source, but cannibalism was a fantasy

A nurse with a cannibalism fetish who fantasised about beheading and then eating a teenage girl has been jailed for nine years.

Dale Bolinger, 58, bought an axe the day before he was due to meet a girl he chatted with online.

He was found guilty in July of attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16 following sexual grooming.

During online conversations, Bolinger described sex acts he wanted to perform on her and how he would kill her.

Canterbury Crown Court heard he had online chats with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old Mexican girl called "Eva", who at other times claimed to be 16, with the name Nada.

He arranged to meet her at Ashford International railway station on 18 September 2012 but she did not turn up.

He told police he was interested in children as food and that he had a computer disc containing an image of a girl on a serving plate with an apple in her mouth.

image copyright KENT POLICE image caption Dale Bolinger was tracked down by Kent Police officers working with the FBI

Bolinger, formerly of Davidson Road, Canterbury, confessed to having cannibalistic thoughts from the age of six but claimed his interest was all "in fantasy".

At his trial, Judge Adele Williams described his behaviour as "abhorrent, shocking and dangerous".

The former nurse at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate admitted 10 other charges, including administering a poison or noxious substance after he put a cloth soaked in cleaning fluid over a female friend's mouth in July 2010.

He also pleaded guilty to making indecent pseudo photographs of children and seven counts of publishing an obscene article.

Psychiatrists determined that Bolinger was not suffering from any form of mental illness.

The American national, who was married for 34 years and had three children, was also made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order to stop him using the internet without permission.

Kent Police worked closely with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in America to reveal his true identity.

After sentencing, Det Supt Tim Smith said Bolinger used a number of names to hide his identity on fetish chatrooms. His pseudonyms included "Meatmarketman".

"There is no doubt in my mind Bolinger represents a very real and great danger to the public," he said.