British judge sentences Nigerian undergrad to prison after falling prey to online child protection vigilante trap

Anderson Ishiekwene, a 25-year-old Nigerian student in the United Kingdom, has been handed a three-year prison sentence and will likely face automatic deportation for attempting to meet a person he believed was a 14-year-old girl for sex after engaging in online sexual grooming.

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Ishiekwene's arrest occurred in Washington, England, where he had arranged to meet the supposed teenager, who was actually a decoy operated by an online paedophile hunter group, according to a report by the BBC on Monday.

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Having arrived in the UK on a student visa in August 2025 and settled in Sunderland, Ishiekwene began communicating with the decoy's profile on Facebook on January 2, before moving the conversation to WhatsApp.

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Over the course of eight days, Ishiekwene exchanged more than 300 pages of messages with the decoy, despite being repeatedly informed that the person he believed he was communicating with was 14 years old, as prosecutors told Newcastle Crown Court.

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Detailed conversations took place, with Ishiekwene allegedly asking questions about the girl's school, school uniform, and body, as well as requesting explicit photographs and sending an image of his naked groin.

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He also repeatedly asked the "girl" to delete his messages, and when the decoy refused to send him photographs, Ishiekwene allegedly complained that it was "unfair" and claimed sharing such images was a "normal thing for people to do in a relationship".

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The court heard that the pair agreed to meet at the Galleries shopping centre in Washington on January 10, where Ishiekwene allegedly told the "girl" he wanted to kiss and sexually touch her "like lovers".

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However, upon his arrival at the agreed location, Ishiekwene was confronted by members of the paedophile hunter group before being arrested by police officers.

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Despite denying that he had travelled to meet the child for sexual purposes, a jury found Ishiekwene guilty after a three-day trial of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, and he had earlier admitted attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child.

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When sentencing Ishiekwene, Judge Robert Spragg stated that the sexual activity Ishiekwene intended on January 10 was a "precursor" to full sexual intercourse on a later occasion.

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The judge also noted that the probation service believed there was "little doubt" Ishiekwene was attracted to children, and in addition to the three-year prison sentence, the court ordered Ishiekwene to sign the sex offenders register and comply indefinitely with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

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Ishiekwene will most likely face automatic deportation from the UK upon completing his prison sentence, according to the BBC.