MATTHEW REILLY FROM HALESOWEN SENTENCED FOR CHILD SEX OFFENCES ACROSS THE UK

A man identified as Matthew Reilly, a resident of Halesowen, has been handed a significant prison sentence after being convicted of a series of serious online sexual offences involving minors across multiple regions in the United Kingdom.

Reilly was sentenced to nine years in prison at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Thursday, 27 June. This sentencing followed his guilty plea to a total of 34 sex-related charges in February of the same year. The case against him was built on a detailed investigation that uncovered disturbing evidence of his online activities and abuse.

The investigation into Reilly’s actions began in January of the previous year, triggered by the discovery of an indecent image of a child uploaded to Snapchat, a popular online messaging platform. Authorities traced the image back to an account linked directly to Reilly, which prompted a search warrant to be executed at his residence in Halesowen. During the search, law enforcement officers seized electronic devices for forensic analysis, aiming to uncover further evidence of his illicit activities.

During police interviews, Reilly admitted to messaging young girls via Snapchat. He acknowledged that some of these conversations had turned sexual in nature. While he was initially released on conditional bail, the investigation continued, and his devices underwent detailed forensic examination. The analysis revealed the presence of indecent images of children stored on his phone, along with evidence of a Snapchat account he had used to pose as a 15-year-old boy.

Further scrutiny of this account uncovered that Reilly had been engaging in sexual communications with girls aged between 11 and 15 years old over a period of four months, from October 2021 to January 2022. The data extracted from his devices also indicated that Reilly had met some of these victims through an online dating platform. He would verify their ages, compliment them sexually, and even suggest that they could earn money by sharing sexual content on the subscription platform OnlyFans.

Reilly’s disturbing online behavior extended to sending explicit images to some of the girls and persuading one of them to perform a sexual act. The investigation identified a total of 40 victims across 27 different police jurisdictions in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Law enforcement agencies from these regions collaborated closely to safeguard the victims and gather additional evidence to support the case against Reilly.

Further arrests were made on 29 September 2023, when Reilly was taken into custody based on the mounting evidence. He was subsequently charged with 52 separate offences and was remanded in custody pending further proceedings.

In a court hearing held earlier this year, Reilly pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including 18 counts of sexual communication with a child under 16, one count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and five counts of causing a child under 16 to watch a sexual act. He also admitted to eight counts of making indecent images of children, which included one Category A image—the most severe classification—along with Category B and C images. Additionally, he pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing indecent images of a child (Category C).

The case highlights the disturbing extent of Reilly’s online predation and the efforts of law enforcement to bring such offenders to justice, ensuring the safety of children across the UK.