Former bus driver asked ‘schoolgirl’ if she was ‘developing as a woman’ and sent her porn
A former bus driver didn’t know he had fallen into the traps lay out by two so-called paedophile hunter groups.
Stephen Joseph Ryan, of Lodgevale Park in Chirk, previously admitted to attempts of sexual communication with a child as well as inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
The 61-year-old stood before a judge at Mold Crown Court to be punished.
Prosecutor, Mr Robert Edwards, told the court how Ryan came to the attention of so-called paedophile hunters who operate online.
It was said that on September 6, 2019, a decoy profile – that Ryan believed was a 13-year-old girl called Daisy – was approached.
Ryan was using a fake name on the social media platform and they began chatting.
The court heard how Ryan was made aware of the girl’s age “multiple times” before the conversation steered into a sexual nature.
He would ask the girl if she was “naughty” before asking or pictures of the girl “in school uniform”.
The prosecutor said that the contact moved to a different platform where Ryan, then aged 59, asked the teen girl if she “was developing as a woman”.
The person behind the decoy replied that she wasn’t sure what he meant when he repeated his questions.
Ryan sent a pornographic video to the supposed child, stating she should watch this “as an assignment” to “better understand what he meant”.
Ryan then approached a second child that was also a decoy in October – now called Melanie and also aged 13 – using a second fake profile which stated he was “looking for friends”.
The court was told how Ryan asked the girl if she was “a pure virgin” along with more “increasingly sexual messages”.
Ryan used Facebook Messenger to send two video clips of himself, the court heard.
In these clips. he made reference to “other children” he was speaking with online.
Ryan was identified by a third party, the court was told, after he had given out his details to a third profile.
It was December 4, 2019, when he was confronted in a “sting operation” by a local activist group who had handed information to North Wales Police. He was subsequently arrested the following day.
In interviews, he declined to give comment any questions.
Judge Nicola Saffman imposed a jail term of three years and four months for Ryan’s offences in total.
She also imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order – banning him from using any device that has internet access unless the police are notified and can be immediately inspected upon request.
