Chat-room man held; Bachelor faces sex charges over schoolgirls he met on internet.

A BACHELOR was being held by police last night accused of abduction and unlawful sex with children he met on the Internet.

The 33-year- old allegedly dialled into online chat-rooms to send messages to the girls before arranging a rendezvous near their schools.

He was arrested in a police operation near one of the teenagers' homes.

Detectives later searched the man's home and seized computer equipment, disks and hard drives, which were taken away for forensic tests. The export clerk has been charged with 14 offences, believed to have happened over the last month.

The arrest followed a two-week investigation and the man was believed to have contacted the chatrooms from his house in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire.

A source said he had been held after allegedly persuading two schoolgirls, aged 13 and 14, to meet him. He is alleged to have induced them to carry out a string of sexual offences.

One youngster was understood to be the daughter of a leading City businessman in London, although neither girl can be named for legal reasons.

The clerk was arrested on Friday, following a Thames Valley police operation in Cumbria, where one of the alleged victims lives. The other girl lives with her family in the Home Counties.

He was brought back to Slough in Berkshire for questioning, where he was being held last night.

Police said: 'He has been accused of 14 offences under the Child Abduction Act and the Sexual Offences Act.

'The charges relate to underage females he met through the Internet and who he arranged to meet.

'He has been detained in police custody and will be appearing before the next available special magistrates' court.' Police said they would apply for the man, who has not been named, to be remanded in custody.

A spokesman said that it was not yet known whether he would also face charges under computer laws, although images found on hardware at his home were being examined.