Nabil Al Rowais, 37, from Riyadh, had arranged the trip during nine months of graphic email correspondence with a man he thought was the girl's father, according to court records.

But the 'father' was an undercover agent posing as a fellow paedophile who was abusing his own daughter.

Al Rowais "ew to San Francisco in April 2006 and took a limousine to a nearby hotel. He carried an overnight bag containing a video camera and girls' underwear, attorney McGregor Scott said. "He went to room 328 and he knocked on the door, fully expecting to encounter a father and his two-and-a-halfyear-old daughter, " Scott said.

Instead, the man was arrested.

The girl does not exist.