A man who tried to meet a 14-year-old boy at McDonald's in a bid to have sex with him has died in prison.

Frank Salmon was arrested after discovering the boy was an undercover police officer posing as a child on the gay hook-up app Grindr.

He had moved the online conversations onto chat app Kik and began to talk sexually to the covert officer.

Southampton Crown Court heard how Salmon, then aged 54, of Harbourne Gardens, West End, asked the boy about private parts of his body and talked to him about sex and masturbation.

Frank Salmon was jailed for 28 month at Southampton Crown Court in October 2022 (Image: Newsquest)

Salmon went to McDonald's in Shirley on June 23 2022 to meet the child but was instead met by police.

Officers searched his home and found a device installed above the bed to record sexual activity. He was later jailed for 28 months.

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Now a Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) report has revealed that Salmon died aged 55 on August 6 2023.

He passed away at HMP Channings Wood in Devon after a blood vessel inserted into a coronary artery to boost blood supply to his heart became blocked due to atherosclerosis, the build up of fat in arteries. An inquest he died from natural causes.

Frank Salmon died at HMP Channings Wood in DevonFrank Salmon died at HMP Channings Wood in Devon (Image: Google)

The report says NHS England commissioned an independent clinical reviewer to review Salmon’s clinical care at the jail.

She concluded his care was of a reasonable standard and at least equivalent to what he could have expected to receive in the community. However, she found the management of Salmon’s long-term conditions was not of the standard required.

The report says the prison should "ensure the development of meaningful patient-centred care plans".

READ MORE: Man died at Winchester Prison two years ago - and his family are still waiting for answers

As reported in the Daily Echo, Salmon appeared at Southampton Crown Court in October 2022 after he admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

Prosecutor Matthew Lawson said Salmon’s actions amounted to "grooming behaviour", adding there was a large gap between his age and that of the decoy boy.

Mitigating, Peter Asteris said Salmon had a "degree of vulnerability", having suffered three heart attacks.

Salmon was "terrified and scared" and "very anxious to persuade the court that he will never be in this position again," added Mr Asteris.

But Judge Nicholas Rowland told the defendant: "What you were doing was communicating with what you thought was a 14-year-old boy.

"It is quite clear, on what I have heard, that there would have been recording of the sexual activity."

As well as being jailed, Salmon was handed a sexual harm prevention order and told he would be on the sex offenders' register for five years.