Matthew Ashworth

Matthew Ashworth, a 53-year-old man from Towngate, Ossett in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court for his repeated attempts to target young girls online. Despite prior warnings and bail conditions, Ashworth continued his predatory behaviour, leading to his eventual arrest and imprisonment.

In August 2025, Ashworth began communicating with an online profile posing as a 14-year-old girl, managed by a paedophile hunter group. He instructed her to keep their conversations secret, warning that he could go to prison if discovered. Ashworth quickly escalated to explicit topics, discussing having sex with her, taking her virginity, and claiming she would not get pregnant due to his vasectomy. He arranged to meet the 'girl' and expressed intentions to 'spend days in bed', even sending a picture of his erect penis. Upon arriving at the meeting point, he was confronted by the hunter group and arrested by West Yorkshire Police.

Released on bail with strict conditions prohibiting contact with anyone under 16, Ashworth disregarded the restrictions just weeks later. Using a new identity on Facebook, he targeted another decoy profile pretending to be a 12-year-old girl. He professed desires to 'make love' to her, kiss her, and encouraged her to masturbate. Shortly after, he contacted a third decoy, this one posing as a 14-year-old girl from Northern Ireland, detailing plans to travel to Belfast for a hotel stay and describing graphic sex acts he wished to perform with her.

Ashworth was arrested again and remanded in custody at HMP Leeds, appearing in court via video link. He admitted to three counts: attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child, attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. The court heard that Ashworth had five previous convictions, primarily for driving offences. His defence barrister, Jessica Heggie, noted his diagnoses of COPD and undiagnosed PTSD, as well as the loss of his job and friendships due to his actions. She acknowledged that immediate imprisonment was inevitable.

Judge Neil Clark sentenced Ashworth to six years in prison, placed him on the sex offenders' register for life, and imposed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order to restrict his internet usage. The case was reported by the Wakefield Express on 5 March 2026, highlighting the role of three separate hunter groups in exposing his persistent offending.