A couple who dubbed themselves Bonnie and Clyde have been jailed for planning and fantasising about the "brutal" rape and sexual assault of young children under the age of 12.
Stuart Compton, 46, and his partner, Tracy Turner, 52, sent each other thousands of messages planning the depraved abuse of two girls and a boy over a two-year period.
Merthyr Crown Court heard their sick plan failed after an online dating app informed police of concerns about Compton, and the pair were arrested.
Sentencing the couple on Monday, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, handed Compton a life sentence, while Turner was given 12 years in jail, with a further two years on extended licence.
Compton must serve a minimum term of seven years in prison before he can apply to the parole board for release.
Addressing Compton, she said: "Unless and until the parole board considers it safe to release you, you will remain in prison."
At an earlier hearing, the couple, who referred to each other as Bonnie and Clyde in messages, both pleaded guilty to six counts of arranging sex with a child.
Compton also pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent images, and Turner, who is a hospital operating assistant, admitted two counts of the same offence.
Bonnie and Clyde were outlaws who gained notoriety in the 1930s for a series of bank robberies in America.
The judge said messages showed they had discussed "over and over again" their desires to rape children and their conversations "made clear that this was not fantasy."
The couple had planned to carry out the acts, with Ms Lloyd-Clarke saying they had "carefully identified" a location for one of the rapes to take place.
"You were both sexually aroused by the idea of raping a child," she said.
She added: "You both deny your sexual interest in children, you both minimise your offending."
The couple must also inform the police of any names or addresses they use and are barred from working with children and vulnerable groups.
Compton, from Cathays, and Turner, from Roath, both Cardiff, had denied a string of other offences, including conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to rape and conspiracy to kidnap, which were ordered to lie on the file.