A pilot who travelled hundreds of miles to meet and rape a 12-year-old girl he met on Instagram has been jailed.

Kwame Yeboah, 30, first made contact with the child in late 2025. She initially told him she was 17 and he travelled from his home in Reading to Wirral, Merseyside, in February.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it would have been "obvious" to Yeboah, a UK national and British Airways employee, "that [the victim] was a very young child".

Yeboah pleaded guilty to rape and sexual assault and was sentenced to eight years and four months in jail. He was also given a 15-year restraining order.

Yeboah had been working for British Airways since 2023 as a First Officer, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He also spent more than 17 years playing basketball and refereeing at Basketball England.

After he first messaged the victim, the court heard Yeboah sent the girl intimate pictures of himself, and the conversations became increasingly sexual.

He called her about twice a week, making her believe she was important to him and that he cared about her, the CPS said.

A few months on from the first contact, Yeboah met the girl in person and drove her around before taking her to an isolated location, and assaulting her three times, the CPS said.

The child later told Merseyside Police she struggled to process what was happening and felt nervous and confused.

A few days later, a friend of the victim told her mother what had happened.

It was reported to the police, and Yeboah was identified using the details he had given the child.

When arrested and interviewed, he answered "no comment" to all questions.

On 22 April, Yeboah pleaded guilty to three counts of rape of a girl under 13 and one count of sexual assault of a girl under 13.

Thomas Hanlon, senior crown prosecutor, said: "Kwame Yeboah would have known early on in his contact with this child that she was not the age she initially claimed to be.

"She spoke about school and sent images of herself in a school uniform.

"When he met her in person, it would have been obvious that she was a very young child."

He added, "He groomed the victim into believing she was in a relationship with someone who cared about her.

"In reality, he was an adult man who abused his position and exploited her for his own sexual gratification."