KILLAMARSH PAEDOPHILE BEN O’LEARY ESCAPES PRISON IN DERBY COURT

In a case that has shocked the local community of Killamarsh and the wider Derbyshire area, Ben O’Leary, a 26-year-old IT support worker, was found guilty of engaging in disturbing online communications with underage girls. The court proceedings revealed that O’Leary had contacted multiple girls aged 12 and 13 through internet messaging platforms, requesting explicit photographs of them dressed in their school uniforms.

During the hearing at Derby Crown Court, it was disclosed that O’Leary’s actions were not only inappropriate but also deeply depraved. He had sent a photograph of his private parts to one of the young girls and openly admitted to another that he might be a “bit of a paedo.” His conversations included disturbing sexual propositions, with O’Leary telling one girl that he would touch himself sexually if he was in a car with her.

Further details revealed that O’Leary sought the phone numbers of some of the girls he contacted and made two phone calls to one of them, which she chose not to answer. Unbeknownst to him, however, all five victims he communicated with were actually undercover police officers operating across different regions of England. These officers had set up fake profiles on online messaging services, posing as underage girls to catch predators like O’Leary in the act.

Prosecutor Richard Gibbs explained that the police forces collaborated to trap O’Leary during April and May of the previous year. They created five separate profiles representing different girls, and over the course of a month, O’Leary engaged with each of them. His conversations ranged from casual plans to meet for dinner to increasingly sexualized exchanges.

Gibbs detailed that O’Leary told one girl he might be a paedophile, and he sent explicit images to another, identified as Holly. He also confessed to touching himself sexually while thinking about a girl performing a sex act on him, and he repeatedly asked the decoys to send photographs of themselves in school uniforms.

Authorities executed a search warrant at O’Leary’s residence in Meadowgate Park, Killamarsh, on May 28, leading to his arrest. He subsequently pleaded guilty to five counts of attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child.

In sentencing, Judge Nirmal Shant QC handed O’Leary a 12-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years. The judge emphasized that O’Leary derived excitement from these interactions, believing the girls to be real and of a young age, unaware that he was communicating with undercover officers.

As part of his sentence, O’Leary was ordered to participate in a 90-day sex offender rehabilitation program, complete 100 hours of unpaid community service, and adhere to a four-month electronically monitored curfew. Additionally, he was placed on the sex offender register for ten years and issued a five-year sexual harm prevention order, aimed at restricting his future conduct and protecting the community from potential harm.