Bradford man sent penis picture to 13-year-old decoy

Andrew O’Reilly was told his behaviour was “completely unacceptable in a civilised society” by a judge at Bradford Crown Court but avoided an immediate jail sentence.

Prosecutor Heather Gilmore told the court how police traced internet activity involving indecent images of children to an IP address connected to O’Reilly and arrested him at his home in October 2022.

His mobile phone was found to contain 49 images of girls aged from one year old to 15 years of which 14 were in Category A, the most serious.

It was whilst he was under investigation that O’Reilly, of Highgate Mill Fold, Bradford, began internet searches for “underage porn” and “sexy teen” pictures.

The case was heard at Bradford Crown Court

He also sent a friend request to a 13-year-old girl, which was actually a decoy profile run by a paedophile hunter group.

During various conversations O’Reilly asked her to message him on WhatsApp, sent photographs of himself without his top on and asked if she liked his muscular physique, and sent her a picture of his penis.

At the time he was 46 and the girl decoy said she was nearly 14.

In other messages he said he wanted to “kiss her all over”, told her she was “beautiful”, asked if she wanted him to “be her daddy”, and requested pictures of her in her school uniform.

He also posed as a female named Carly who would join in the conversations to send videos to the girl.

During their conversations, the girl reiterated that she was just 13.

The paedophile group confronted O’Reilly at his home on November 13, 2023, but he fled the scene.

When police arrested him three days later, they found his mobile phone had been reset to factory settings.

In an interview O’Reilly denied being responsible for downloading pictures of young girls and that he was “not into indecent images”. He said he was “shocked and flabbergasted” that they should be on his phone.

He described indecent images of children as “disgusting” and that he may have accidentally clicked on links and not searched for them. He also suggested that someone could have been on his phone as it was not password protected.

He also claimed he knew the person he had messaged was part of a paedophile hunter group and had “played along”. He also revealed that Carly did not exist.

He later pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of attempted sexual communications with a child.

Mitigating, Fuad Arshad said there was “an intense shame” around O’Reilly’s offending and that he “hated himself for what he had done”.

He said he suffered from depression and stress, was lonely and socially excluded, and required specialist intervention.

He said: “It is for the court to decide whether he is a fantasist.”

Sentencing O’Reilly to 21 months imprisonment suspended for two years His Honour Judge Colin Burn said: “This offending is completely unacceptable in a civilised society.

“What you have done here is completely wrong.”

He described downloading indecent images of children as “horrible behaviour towards children” as people who seek out such content create a marketplace for this making it.

And he rejected O’Reilly’s claim that he knew the girl was an imposter or a dupe. He added: “The reality is that the reason you came up with that is because of your inability to face yourself.”

He handed O’Reilly a 12-month sentence for attempted sexual communications with a child and a total of 15 months, with six months to be served concurrently, for making indecent images.

He was ordered to undertake 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and to participate in a 43-day sexual offending group work programme.

He was made the subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and must sign the sex offender’s register for the same period.

Judge Burn ordered the forfeiture and destruction of O’Reilly’s mobile phones.