A British pensioner who travelled to America to have sex with young boys has been jailed for 13 years.

Paul Charles Wilkins, 70, was caught in an undercover sting handing over cash to a government agent for sex with a nine-year-old boy.

Wilkins, from Littleport, Cambridgeshire, had attempted to meet two other boys aged 10 and 12 but was arrested in February last year when his plan collapsed.

Prosecutors said Wilkins ran an online group used by paedophiles and "persistently engaged in the sexual exploitation of children" before he went to the US in January 2016.

Wilkins admitted he had travelled to America after a man had apparently offered him sex with his two young sons on the site.

When that plan fell through, Wilkins was contacted by undercover agents via the online group and he paid one of them $250 (£204) for sex with a nine-year-old boy at a flat he rented in the Coachella Valley.

The sting was conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The dual UK and US citizen was initially charged with travelling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and attempted sex trafficking of children, transporting child pornography and possession of child pornography.

Under a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty to taking child pornography into the country, including graphic sexual images of boys between the ages of five and eight.

United States Attorney Eileen Decker said Wilkins had "persistently engaged in the sexual exploitation of children".

She said: "He was the administrator of an online group used by men to discuss their sexual interest in children, he travelled to the United States to have sex with two young boys, and he made arrangements with undercover agents to have sex with another young boy.

"Today's sentence ensures that children will be protected from his abhorrent conduct for many years."

Joseph Macias, special agent in charge for HSI Los Angeles, said: "Given his age, this prison term virtually assures the defendant will not be a sexual threat to young people again.

"This sentence should also serve as a sobering reminder to paedophiles who wrongly believe they can outrun the law and indulge their perverse desires by buying an airline ticket and boarding a plane."

Wilkins was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison and a 25,000 dollar (£20,000) fine at a court in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

A judge ordered that he stays under supervision for the rest of his life.