A Nigerian student has been sentenced to three years in prison in the United Kingdom after being convicted of attempting to meet someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl for sexual activity following online grooming.
Anderson Ishiekwene, 25, was sentenced by the Newcastle Crown Court after being found guilty of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child.
According to reports, Ishiekwene was arrested on January 10 after arriving at a pre-arranged meeting point, where he was confronted by members of an online child protection group who had been operating a decoy profile before police officers took him into custody.
The court heard that Ishiekwene had arrived in the United Kingdom from Nigeria on a student visa in August 2025 and was living in Sunderland at the time of the offences.
Prosecutor Cole Cockburn told the court that the case began on January 2, when Ishiekwene contacted what he believed was the Facebook profile of a 14-year-old girl. Their conversations later moved to WhatsApp, where they exchanged hundreds of pages of messages over several days.
Despite being repeatedly informed that the supposed girl was 14 years old, prosecutors said Ishiekwene continued the conversations, asking questions about her school, school uniform and other personal matters.
The court also heard that he allegedly requested photographs from the decoy profile, sent an explicit image of himself, and repeatedly asked the supposed teenager to delete their conversations.
When the decoy refused to send photographs, prosecutors said Ishiekwene described it as “unfair” and attempted to normalise the request by claiming it was something people in relationships typically do.
The pair eventually agreed to meet at the Galleries shopping centre in Washington on January 10. During the online conversations, Ishiekwene allegedly stated that he wanted to kiss and sexually touch the person he believed to be the teenager.
However, upon arriving at the agreed location, he was confronted by members of the child protection group, who alerted the police. Officers subsequently arrested him at the scene.
Although Ishiekwene denied that he intended to meet the supposed girl for sexual purposes, a jury rejected his defence and found him guilty after a three-day trial.
During sentencing, Judge Robert Spragg described the planned sexual activity as a precursor to what he believed was an intention to engage in full sexual intercourse on a future occasion.
The judge also referred to a probation assessment presented before the court, which concluded there was “little doubt” that Ishiekwene was sexually attracted to children.
In addition to the three-year custodial sentence, the court ordered him to sign the UK’s Sex Offenders Register and made him subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order, placing strict restrictions on his future conduct.
The judge further stated that, upon completing his prison sentence, Ishiekwene is likely to face automatic deportation proceedings under UK immigration laws.
The case highlights the growing role of online child protection groups in assisting law enforcement agencies in identifying individuals suspected of attempting to exploit children online. Authorities continue to urge the public to report suspected child exploitation and online grooming to the appropriate agencies to help safeguard vulnerable children.
