[A] 65-year-old man from West Yorkshire has been jailed for committing a number of child sex offences.
Nigel Delaney, of New North Road, Huddersfield, was sentenced to 12 years in prison at Burnley Crown Court yesterday (June 26).
Delaney was arrested in April 2016 after he was found driving on the M65 motorway with a 15-year-old boy from Accrington in his car.
Officers discovered Delaney had an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) from 2015 which banned him from contacting any child under the age of 17.
He was charged with breaching the order and remanded by police.
While on remand, a separate investigation was launched by detectives in Preston after two 13-year-old boys, both from Leyland, reported being contacted by mobile phone and online by an unknown man.
After officers found a photo of the man and shared the picture with neighbouring police forces, he was identified as Delaney, a known sex offender from West Yorkshire.
Having seized Delaney’s phone during the arrest on the M65, detectives found around 250,000 messages sent to a number of boys across the Lancashire, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire areas.
He was re-arrested and charged by police with a number of child sex offences.
At court Delaney pleaded guilty to 27 counts, including breaching the SHPO, attempting to pay for the sexual services of a child, attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child, making indecent images of a child, possession of indecent images of a child, distributing indecent images of a child and failure to comply with notification requirements.
All the offences took place between November 2015 and April 2016.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, as well as a further five years on licence. Delaney must serve a minimum of eight years, was made subject to sex offender notification requirements and handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Det Con Wendy Potter, of Lancashire Police’s Public Protection Unit, said: “Nigel Delaney is an extremely dangerous and predatory paedophile who committed a number of offences against teenage boys.
“After initially arresting Delaney for breaching his SHPO in April 2016, further enquiries revealed he had been messaging several underage males across the Lancashire, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire areas.
“Officers reviewing the communication found in the region of 250,000 messages as Delaney relentlessly pursued the victims for his own depraved gratification.
“Following a prolonged investigation, Delaney admitted his guilt and has now been brought to justice.
“I must thank the victims, who showed great bravery in helping provide evidence to police.
“We welcome today’s sentence and hope it serves as a reminder to others wanting to commit such heinous crimes.
“Child sexual exploitation doesn’t only affect girls but boys too.
“If you are or have been a victim or suspect a young person is being sexual exploited please contact police on 101 or online at www.lancashire.police.uk”
