A convicted paedophile from Dartford who was pictured working in McDonald's no longer works for the company, a spokeman for the fast food franchise has confirmed.

Oliver Horwood, then 20, was convicted of multiple offences including inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and making indecent images of children in August last year and sentenced to 16 months in prison.

At the time of his conviction, police said Horwood, who was living in Sinclair Way, was said to have “aggressively bullied and manipulated a child online to fulfil his own desires.”

The Sun reported that Horwood was “serving Happy Meals to children” at the chain's Gravesend restaurant, just days after being released from prison.

A spokesman for McDonald's said the firm had investigated.

The spokesman said: “McDonald’s and its franchisees have strict policies in place when it comes to recruiting employees and matters such as this are taken extremely seriously.

“We can confirm that an investigation was carried out immediately and that the individual no longer works at McDonald’s.”

Some people on social media defended his employment.

One social media user commented: “He is in a controlled environment where adults place the orders 90 per cent of the time.”