Nigerian Student Jailed for Attempting Child Sex Meeting

Anderson Ishiekwene, a 25-year-old Nigerian student, was sentenced to three years in prison by Judge Robert Spragg at Newcastle Crown Court for attempting to meet a decoy he believed was a 14-year-old girl for sexual purposes. Ishiekwene, who arrived in the UK on a student visa in August 2025 and settled in Sunderland, began communicating with the decoy on Facebook on January 2, 2026, before moving the conversation to WhatsApp.

Over eight days, he exchanged more than 300 pages of messages, asking for explicit photographs and discussing sexual activities. The meeting was arranged for January 10, 2026, at the Galleries shopping centre in Washington, where he was confronted by a paedophile hunter group and subsequently arrested by police.

Although he denied his intentions, a jury found him guilty of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming. In addition to his prison sentence, he must register as a sex offender and comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and he is likely to face automatic deportation upon release.