TV producer jailed for Leeds child sex offences

Kieran Creaven was arrested in City Square, Leeds

A TV sports producer who was confronted by so-called paedophile hunters in Leeds has been jailed for 18 months.

Kieran Creaven, who worked for Irish broadcaster RTE, flew from Ireland intending to meet a girl aged 13.

He had actually been in touch with a group trying to catch sex offenders and was filmed in City Square, Leeds, being led off by a police officer.

He had admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court.

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Creavan told police "I need professional help"

The fictional teenage girl - Keeley Nutton - had been created by Leeds-based group Predator Exposure.

Creaven, 55, had expected to meet her outside the Queens Hotel.

Kitty Colley, prosecuting, said he told police he viewed sex abuse images of children as young as eight.

Creaven admitted he had made online contact with 15 to 20 teenage girls, aged between 13 and 18, blackmailing some of them by threatening to release information about them on Facebook.

Ms Colley said Creaven and the fictional Keeley had exchanged hundreds of messages in a few months and he had sent the girl a picture of his erect penis.

Creaven told police: "I need professional help, I find children attractive", she added.

Judge Simon Phillips QC told Creaven: "You believed you were dealing with a real person, and you believed her to be 13 years of age."

He was jailed after pleading guilty at a previous hearing to attempting to meet a child following grooming for a sexual purpose and of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

The offences took place between July and November 2017.