A HARD-HITTING documentary has shown the moment police officers confronted a paedophile trying to meet a girl for sex.

Martin Latimer was the subject of last night's episode of Undercover Police: Hunting Paedophiles on Channel 4.

Latimer was arrested in Basildon back in 2019 after undercover officers posed as children online, which he had sent sexually explicit messages to.

Over the course of five weeks, the now 37-year-old engaged in sexual conversation with "girl", who claimed to be aged 13, and sent naked photographs and videos of himself performing sexual acts.

Echo:

Latimer being confronted in Basildon. Pic: Channel 4 

He booked and paid for a bed and breakfast and travelled to Basildon by train carrying a bag containing sex toys, chocolate and an unopened packet of girls’ underwear.

However, Latimer was in fact talking to an undercover police officer. At the time of his sentence in September 2019, police did not disclose that the child was a decoy, citing "operational reasons".

READ MORE: Martin Latimer jailed for child sex offences in Basildon

Speaking in the documentary, the undercover officer said: "Throughout the conversation there's been a constant thread referring to my age, immaturity, even down to my childish knickers that I wear.

"He likes the fact that I'm childish and thirteen-years-old. That clearly appears to be a driver for him."

Latimer, of Connaught Road, Hove, East Sussex, was sentenced to three years in prison in September 2019 for facilitating and arranging a child sex offence, causing a child to watch a sexual act and engaging a child in sexual chat.

Echo:

Martin Latimer 

At the time, PC Adam Colbear said: “Latimer travelled to Essex with every intention of engaging in sexual activity with a child he believed to be just 13 years of age. 

“He researched, booked and paid for a bed and breakfast and embarked on a two-hour train journey to meet the girl he had been grooming for a number of weeks. 

“Latimer has shown no remorse for his actions and he will now be put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.”