A COMMUNITY police officer who bragged to a paedophile about having sex with a boy scout while ogling child porn in an internet chat room is facing jail. Scout master Daniel Cotham, 25, of Ripple Road, Barking, boasted about having sex with a lad of 15 to

A COMMUNITY police officer who bragged to a paedophile about having sex with a boy scout while ogling child porn in an internet chat room is facing jail.

Scout master Daniel Cotham, 25, of Ripple Road, Barking, boasted about having sex with a lad of 15 to Thomas Hayes while the sick duo shared pornography.

Cotham and Hayes, 23, also fantasised about sex with another boy whose nude photo they drooled over during their perverted online chats.

The pervert, who will now be sacked from his �25,000-a-year Met Police role, claimed he faked his yearning for underage gay sex to expose Hayes.

But a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court unanimously convicted Cotham of inciting Hayes to send indecent images of children after a three-day trial.

A visibly shaken Cotham appeared close to tears as he repeatedly shook his head in apparent disbelief over the jury's verdict.

Judge Simon Wilkinson ordered pre-sentence reports before bailing Cotham until October 19 when he will learn his fate.

The judge then apologised to jurors for drawing the 'short straw' by trying such a 'distressing and distasteful' case.

Police raided Cotham's home and another unnamed address where they seized his laptop after monitoring his twisted web 'discussions' with Hayes.

The perverts both shared an interest in 'unlawful sexual activity with male children under 16', the court heard.

"It is the case for the prosecution that this defendant was encouraging Mr Hayes to send indecent images of children to him and that Mr Hayes did this," prosecutor David Tomlinson told jurors.

Cotham kept a sick album of child porn which police were unable to access.

He claimed he was working as an 'agent provocateur' to snare Hayes after meeting him on a gay date at the Slug & Lettuce pub in Canary Wharf.

Transcripts were read to the court from MSN Messenger in which Cotham wrote to Hayes of his trysts with the unknown scout and his urge to prey on a tragic victim of child porn.

Cotham maintained that he had never had sex with the scout, telling the court: "I would not have a relationship with a person under 16."

After the hearing, a police source said officers had contacted several scout troops over Cotham's online claim but no-one ever came forward.

Cotham was convicted of incitement to distribute indecent photos of children between February 2005 and October 2006.