Persistent paedophile caught in sting operation


A persistent paedophile caught in a sting after he had arranged to meet a ten-year-old girl to have sex with her has been jailed for six years.
Robert Reeday was waiting at a bus stop to meet “Sienna” when he was challenged by the online organisation Angels of Innocence who called the police, Bradford Crown Court heard.
Reeday, 43, of Birch Lane, West Bowling, Bradford, was convicted by a jury in March of ten offences including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, arranging the commission of a child sexual offence, making indecent photographs of children and Breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
The case was adjourned for the preparation of probation and psychiatric reports.
Prosecutor Nick Adlington told the court today that a member of Angels of Innocence posed on a child internet chat site as Sienna aged ten and Reeday, calling himself Robbie96, got in touch in February last year.
He told her how to masturbate, sent her a photo of his penis and invited her to his home for sex.
Reeday gave Sienna his address and the bus routes to his house. He was waiting for her at a bus stop on Parkside Road, West Bowling, when he was apprehended.
When his home was searched, the police found a pair of pink child’s knickers and a phone containing indecent images of children, one at Category A.
Mr Adlington said that Reeday was in breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed at Bradford Crown Court in July 2017 for making and possession of indecent images of children. He was also on prison licence at the time of last year’s offences.
Reeday denied the allegations, accusing the police of planting the pink knickers to frame him.
He told his psychiatrist he heard a voice in his head laughing.
Kate Riekstina said in mitigation that Reeday had been on suicide watch several times while on remand in Leeds Prison.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, he had spent almost all his time in his cell with no social visits.
He had been bullied in jail and someone had taken his false teeth overnight.
Miss Riekstina stressed that there was no real child and so no harm had actually been caused.
But Judge Jonathan Gibson said Reeday had shown a significant degree of planning and grooming behaviour. There was a big disparity in age between him and the child he believed was ten that he wanted to have sex with.
Reeday was given a two year extended licence period because he posed a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public.
He will spend two thirds of the six years behind bars before the Parole Board considers his release.
Reeday is subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and he must sign on the sex offender register for life.