A CHEF from Derby has admitted the online grooming of a 13-year-old boy from Tetbury and then meeting him for sexual activity.

Brendan Conway, 28, collapsed in the dock at Gloucester Crown Court today after having a seizure, and an ambulance was called.

His barrister had told the court he would be pleading guilty to charges of sexual grooming and meeting a child for sexual activity.

Conway made contact with the boy via a gay social network site and pretended to be aged 17 before arranging to drive to Tetbury to meet him.

Judge Jamie Tabor QC said that Conway was clearly too ill to enter his pleas today but the indictment would be put to him when he is sentenced on February 12.

Conway, of Border Crescent in Derby, made two appearances in the dock during the course of the morning and seemed fine on the first occasion.

He was sent back to his cell for his lawyer to speak to him about his pleas to the charges.

When he returned to the dock just before lunchtime, he was doubled up, holding his stomach and his face was contorted in agony.

His barrister Emma Scott said: "He suffers from some form of seizures and he is obviously in a great deal of pain."

She said he would be pleading guilty to the two offences, committed on November 22 last year.

As the hearing came to a close, custody officers in the dock started to help Conway back towards the steps leading down to the cells but he then collapsed to the floor, shaking uncontrollably, and lay there for about two minutes.

When he had recovered enough to be taken to the cells, he was helped down the stairs by two custody officers and a short time later a paramedic arrived to examine him.

During the hearing, prosecutor Janine Wood said his two guilty pleas would be acceptable and she would not proceed with a third charge of attempting to meet the boy following grooming.

He was remanded in custody until sentencing.