NICHOLAS HUGHES AND WARRINGTON: INTERNET PREDATOR JAILED FOR SEXUAL OFFENCES AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
| Red Rose Database
Kingsley Child Sexual Abuser
In April 2007, Nicholas Hughes was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of multiple serious offences related to online grooming and child pornography. Hughes, 30, of Top Road, Kingsley, was convicted of luring teenage girls he met through Internet chatrooms to Warrington’s Cockhedge shopping centre with the intent to fulfill his sexual fantasies. During the investigation, authorities discovered that Hughes had downloaded hundreds of indecent images of children on his computer, including pictures of toddlers as young as 12 months old.
Warrington Crown Court heard that Hughes, posing as 'Dirty Cheshire Boy,' used chatrooms such as MSN, Face Party, and others to find young victims. Prosecutor Peter Moss described how Hughes targeted girls living near his home or workplace, initially engaging in casual conversations about hobbies and music before shifting to sexual topics. Some girls agreed to meet him because they perceived him as harmless and did not fully comprehend his intentions.
Hughes successfully contacted his first victim, a 14-year-old girl, after her friend gave her Hughes’s contact details. They communicated via mobile phones during school breaks and evenings, sometimes for up to 90 minutes, with Hughes asking about Boyfriends and her sexual experiences. He attempted to meet her in Warrington on February 4 of the previous year, but the plan was thwarted when she brought a friend along and texted Hughes to cancel.
In total, Hughes contacted four other girls aged between 12 and 14, making explicit comments about their bodies and his desires. Prosecutor Moss highlighted that many of these young girls shared their personal details with Hughes and passed his information to friends, which the judge, Stephen Clarke, found particularly disturbing.
Judge Clarke remarked that the girls' willingness to share these details demonstrated a dangerous naivety, underscoring that girls aged 13 and 14 often did not realize the risks involved.
Parents' suspicions led to police intervention, and during the raid on Hughes’s home in April 2006, officers recovered computers containing 357 indecent images of children aged between two and 14, along with magazines featuring schoolgirl themes. Hughes admitted four counts of meeting a child following sexual grooming, 12 counts of making indecent images, and sexual activity with two girls within days of their sixteenth birthdays.
The judge emphasized Hughes’s unhealthy fixation on pubescent girls and stated his behavior was driven by a desire to act out his fantasies. As part of his sentencing, Hughes was ordered to complete an Internet sex offender program, prohibited from working with children ever again, and required to register as a sex offender for life.
Warrington Crown Court heard that Hughes, posing as 'Dirty Cheshire Boy,' used chatrooms such as MSN, Face Party, and others to find young victims. Prosecutor Peter Moss described how Hughes targeted girls living near his home or workplace, initially engaging in casual conversations about hobbies and music before shifting to sexual topics. Some girls agreed to meet him because they perceived him as harmless and did not fully comprehend his intentions.
Hughes successfully contacted his first victim, a 14-year-old girl, after her friend gave her Hughes’s contact details. They communicated via mobile phones during school breaks and evenings, sometimes for up to 90 minutes, with Hughes asking about Boyfriends and her sexual experiences. He attempted to meet her in Warrington on February 4 of the previous year, but the plan was thwarted when she brought a friend along and texted Hughes to cancel.
In total, Hughes contacted four other girls aged between 12 and 14, making explicit comments about their bodies and his desires. Prosecutor Moss highlighted that many of these young girls shared their personal details with Hughes and passed his information to friends, which the judge, Stephen Clarke, found particularly disturbing.
Judge Clarke remarked that the girls' willingness to share these details demonstrated a dangerous naivety, underscoring that girls aged 13 and 14 often did not realize the risks involved.
Parents' suspicions led to police intervention, and during the raid on Hughes’s home in April 2006, officers recovered computers containing 357 indecent images of children aged between two and 14, along with magazines featuring schoolgirl themes. Hughes admitted four counts of meeting a child following sexual grooming, 12 counts of making indecent images, and sexual activity with two girls within days of their sixteenth birthdays.
The judge emphasized Hughes’s unhealthy fixation on pubescent girls and stated his behavior was driven by a desire to act out his fantasies. As part of his sentencing, Hughes was ordered to complete an Internet sex offender program, prohibited from working with children ever again, and required to register as a sex offender for life.