October 2026

Widnes man jailed for online sexual offences

A man who contacted a 12-year-old girl through Roblox before sending her sexually explicit material and encouraging sexual activity has been jailed for five years and four months.

Ryan Caine, 23, of Deacon Road, Widnes, was exposed after police uncovered his communications with the child — then discovered messages involving five other girls.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Caine moved his conversations with the 12-year-old from the online game to WhatsApp.

There, he sent her sexually explicit images and videos, discussed sexual acts he wanted to perform on her and encouraged her to engage in sexual activity.

Cheshire Police officers raided his home on April 16 the previous year, arresting him and recovering two mobile phones.

Those devices revealed the wider extent of his offending.

Investigators found messages between Caine and five other children, aged between 13 and 16. He had sent explicit images of himself to the girls and encouraged sexual activity.

Police also discovered 86 images of child sexual abuse: 25 classified as category A, the most serious category, alongside 19 category B and 42 category C images.

Caine refused to answer questions during his police interview. He subsequently pleaded guilty to 16 offences.

These comprised five counts of sexual communication with a child, three of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, five of causing a child to watch sexual activity and three of making indecent images of children.

He was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to five years and four months in prison.

The court also imposed a 30-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a ten-year restraining order. Caine must also register as a sex offender.

What began with contact through a children’s online game led investigators to sexual messages involving six girls and a collection of images documenting the abuse of children.