A father-of-five who lost his wife and children after paedophile hunters caught him trying to meet a 14-year old girl for sex at a railway station has been jailed.


A father-of-five who lost his wife and children after paedophile hunters caught him trying to meet a 14-year old girl for sex at a railway station has been jailed.

Nigel Ryan, 33, was arrested after a group calling itself the North West Predator Hunters created a fake online profile masquerading as a truanting teenager.

During an exchange of messages over a three-day period, Ryan falsely claimed he was 29 and then sent the vigilantes a explicit image with the caption ‘nice a***’.

Ryan, from Stalybridge, Greater Manchester also said: ‘I will FK you,’ asked for school uniform pictures then sent images of his genitals, adding: ‘I can get done for this’.

He then arranged a meeting at the town’s train station, and attempted to convince the ‘victim’ to meet him by himself pretending to be 13-year old girl.
In one message, he said: ‘You can have cigarettes and beer. The sex will good too.’

He was subsequently confronted by the group on the concourse and they live streamed him being detained in a video which attracted 187,000 views on Facebook.

Officers searched Ryan and found two Playboy condoms in his pocket plus two mobile phones and two cans of lager in his bag.

At Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, Ryan admitted attempting to meet a child following grooming and was jailed for 30 months.
He initially denied wrongdoing but has since been dumped by his shocked wife.

The incident occurred in April after he contacted the fake profile set up in the name of ‘Francesca’ via an app.

Prosecutor Virginia Hayton said: ‘The first message started with the defendant saying “ASL” which stands for “age, sex and location”. He said he was 29.

‘He asked if the girl was really 14 and she replied saying she was. He sent a GIF saying ‘nice a***’ and then said ‘I will FK you’ – he was effectively complimenting her.

‘She said she was bunking off school and he responded: “are you really bunking off?”. Messages continued between the defendant and the girl
‘He was asking her to send pictures of herself and send pictures in her school uniform. He asks what size clothes she is.

‘She states in one message that they should not meet up but the following day she then receives messages from who she believes to be a 13 year old girl who was in fact this defendant.

‘He wanted to pretend to be a girl of a similar age to enhance his chances of meeting – he sent messages saying that she knew him and it was fine to meet up.’

After being confronted by the vigilantes, Ryan claimed that the condoms in his pocket were bought by his wife and they just happened to be on his person.

In mitigation, Jane Greenhalgh said: ‘Since this incident he has been diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder.

‘His special needs have led him to feel isolated and this led him to use the Internet to speak to people.

‘He is married to a woman who also has special needs and at the time of these offences the relationship was breaking down.

‘He has split from his wife and his five children have been taken into care.’

Ryan was also issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was further ordered to sign the Sex Offender register for ten years.