A YOUNG Carlisle man who tried to meet a vulnerable schoolgirl to sexually abuse her was already a convicted sex offender.

Despite being only 18 himself, Ryan Walker, who has lived in both Carlisle and Whitehaven, had a history of disturbing sexual behaviour towards children, and had been prosecuted three times for indecent exposure. 

The teenager admitted four new offences.

They were attempting to arrange a serious child sex offence, communicating sexually with a child, causing the same child to view sexually explicit material, and failing to comply with the conditions imposed by being on the Sex Offender Register.

At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Tim Evans outlined the offences.

He said the defendant, who has lived at Valley Drive in Carlisle and Greenlands Avenue, Whitehaven, was assessed by the Probation Service as a “very high risk” offender due to his previous offending behaviour. 

Police visited Walker in December last year after receiving reports about his behaviour. He allegedly tried a family's house door handle, attempted to watch a child showering through a window, and tried to speak to a child.

As a result, officers went to his home and examined his phone.

In this way, they discovered a series of messages between Walker and a 15-year-old girl, in which he outlined in graphic detail what he would like to do to her. Despite the girl clearly stating her age, Walker was not deterred.

He sent her indecent pictures of himself and arranged to meet her the following day in a park in Carlisle, hoping to sexually abuse her. “She was particularly vulnerable,” said Mr Evans, explaining that the girl had a serious mental health condition.

After the police spoke to the girl and her family, explaining Walker's history, the child was so distressed that she self-harmed and took an overdose.

The child’s mother said that she was now afraid to leave her alone and said Walker should never have been allowed access to facilities that allowed him to talk online with a child.

When police interviewed Walker, he said he did not know he would get into trouble and claimed he would not have met the girl. The court heard of his disturbing past behaviour, which included performing sex acts in front of two young schoolgirls in 2021.

In April, May and June of that year, he committed exposure offences.

Eve Salter, defending, pointed to the defendant’s immaturity, and said Walker had been unaware of the victim’s mental health vulnerabilities.

“He’s sorry for his actions,” she said. Learning construction skills in custody, he hoped when released that he would be able to get a job in that area or working with nature. “The defendant suffers autism and struggles with depression,” added the barrister.

Judge Nicholas Barker said it was clear that Walker’s interest in the child he contacted was only sexual and he had demonstrated a disturbing sexual interest in young girls.

Referring to his messages to the victim, the Judge told the defendant: “You were bombarding many females, with the opening line ‘Hi sexy;’ it was almost a fishing exercise, with you hoping that one would throw up such a contact.

Walker had been assessed as lacking empathy and he had sought to blame others. The author of his pre-sentence report concluded that no therapeutic work could be done with him outside of custody, said the judge.

Despite being remorseful and having had a “traumatic experience” in his early life, Walker could be aggressive when challenged. The judge imposed 14-months detention in a youth offenders’ institution.

He will be on the Sex Offender Register for a decade.

* Stop It Now is run by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a UK-wide charity dedicated solely to preventing child sexual abuse. It offers help to anyone with concerns about child sexual abuse and its prevention.

It also operates a confidential helpline 0808 1000 900.