BRYAN HUGGINS FROM ATHERSTONE CAUGHT IN SWANSEA SEX GROOMING PLOT

In a disturbing case that has shocked the community, 72-year-old Bryan Huggins, a resident of The Green, Mancetter, Atherstone, Warwickshire, was found to have engaged in a sinister grooming scheme targeting what he believed was a 13-year-old girl. The incident unfolded across multiple locations, including Swansea and Warwickshire, revealing a calculated attempt at sexual exploitation.

According to court proceedings, Huggins had been communicating with a decoy account operated by a paedophile hunting team. The account was designed to mimic a young girl, and the prosecution revealed that on April 7 of this year, Huggins initiated contact through a dating website. The individual behind the profile, which was actually a trap set by authorities, informed Huggins that she was only 13 years old. Despite knowing this, Huggins continued to engage in conversations, exchanging mobile numbers and chatting via WhatsApp.

Over the following days, Huggins sent a series of explicit messages, describing sexual acts he wished to perform, including washing the girl’s back in the shower, and requesting nude photographs. The court heard that he expressed a desire to sexually abuse her and arranged to meet her in Swansea. To facilitate this, Huggins booked a room at the Hurst Dene Aparthotel in the Uplands area of Swansea and planned to pick her up from a Tesco supermarket on Oystermouth Road, instructing her to pretend to be his granddaughter to avoid suspicion from staff and shoppers.

On April 12, Huggins traveled from Warwickshire to Swansea, checked into his hotel room, and proceeded to the designated meeting point where he was met by members of the paedophile hunting group operating the decoy account. Police officers were called to the scene, leading to his immediate arrest. A search of his hotel room and vehicle uncovered a disturbing array of items, including massage oil, Viagra tablets, a vibrator, a hairdryer, a computer memory stick containing erotic fiction authored by Huggins, and a laptop computer.

In his vehicle, officers also discovered an audiobook narrating a story about a schoolgirl who was abducted, a roll of heavy-duty tape, and a diary containing flight numbers and detailed plans. During police interviews, Huggins admitted that he intended to give the girl a full-body massage, touch her breasts and genitals, and use the vibrator, revealing his explicit intentions.

Huggins, who is also known as Bryan Huggins of The Green, Mancetter, Atherstone, Warwickshire, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a girl to engage in sexual activity when he appeared in court for sentencing. Although he has four prior convictions, none of these were related to sexual offenses.

Judge Huw Rees addressed the court, stating that Huggins had groomed what he believed was a young girl and had traveled a significant distance to Swansea with the intent to carry out his plans. The judge emphasized that the author of the pre-sentence report believed Huggins could have caused lasting psychological harm to any child he interacted with.

Following sentencing guidelines and granting a one-third reduction for his guilty plea, Huggins was sentenced to 16 months in prison. He is expected to serve up to half of this sentence before being released on licence, after which he will serve the remainder in the community. Additionally, Huggins will be registered as a sex offender for the next 10 years and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same duration, reflecting the serious nature of his offending.