Man jailed for child sex offence after being snared by online police sting

A man has been jailed after he attempted to arrange to meet a six-year-old girl to sexually abuse her.

However, the child was fictitious and Adrian O’Reilly was in fact communicating with a police officer.

When O’Reilly flew over from Ireland on the pretence of meeting the child, he was arrested by Met police officers at the rendezvous point in Stratford.

Detective Constable Ed Hickford was part of the team who snared O’Reilly – he said:

“Our pursuit of those who engage in illegal sexual activity with children is relentless and we will use a range of tactics to identify and arrest those responsible.

“In this case, O’Reilly thought he was communicating with a person who was offering access to a young girl. His messages were vile and he endorsed these by getting on a plane and flying to London with the intention to carry out this abuse.

“However, he was greeted by my team who arrested him and compiled a wealth of evidence which left him with no choice but to plead guilty.”

O’Reilly came to police attention in January 2023 when he exchanged messages with an officer posing as another user. In these messages, O’Reilly discussed his desire to arrange to meet and abuse a young girl. On 29 March 2023, O’Reilly flew to London and then travelled to Stratford where he believed he would meet his contact and then travel on to meet the child. When he was arrested, officers found him possession of items including Viagra and condoms.

On Thursday, 14 March, Adrian O’Reilly, 49 (24.09.74) from Dublin, Ireland was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown to six years and nine months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to arranging/facilitating the commission of a child offence. O’Reilly was also handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and will be subject to lifetime notification requirements.