Arfon Griffiths

A convicted sex offender from Abergele, Arfon Griffiths, has been imprisoned for targeting underage girls online using multiple aliases. Griffiths, aged 44 and residing at Ger y Mor, Abergele, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at Caernarfon Crown Court on 15 March 2024. He had pleaded guilty to numerous counts of breaching his sexual harm prevention order, two offences of failing to comply with sex offenders register notification requirements, and one charge of attempted sexual communication with a child.

Griffiths first became a convicted sex offender in 2013 when he was jailed for inciting children to engage in sexual activity, which resulted in him being subject to a sexual harm prevention order. Despite these restrictions, on 17 February 2023, using the alias 'Liam Williams', he sent messages via social media to a girl, directly breaching the order. Police attended his home on 9 March 2023 and seized a mobile phone hidden under a mattress. Forensic analysis of the device revealed communications with four other underage girls, to whom he misrepresented himself as a 17-year-old boy under the alias 'Lee Jones'. He had failed to disclose these aliases to authorities as required.

While the communications with three of the girls were brief and non-sexual—primarily compliments on their appearance—the interaction with the fourth girl, described in court as 'extremely vulnerable', turned explicitly sexual. Griffiths complimented her on her cleavage, stated she would be 'amazing in bed', and requested a 'sexy pic'. One of the victims provided a victim impact statement, expressing how Griffiths' actions have left her feeling 'unsafe' and 'anxious', causing her to second-guess outings with friends and suffer nightmares. She remarked: 'I never thought it could happen to me.'

Prosecutor David Mainstone outlined the breaches during the hearing, emphasising the repeated violations of legal safeguards designed to protect children. In defence, Elen Owen argued that Griffiths had made 'full and frank admissions' about his behaviour, stating in his own words that he had 'let himself down' and 'beats himself up about what he's done'. She noted he had not sought to make excuses at any stage. However, Judge Nicola Saffman strongly criticised the initial decision to grant Griffiths bail, asserting he 'should never, ever' have been released, and attributed the additional impact on the victim to this error by authorities.

In addition to the three-year custodial sentence, Judge Saffman imposed an indefinite restraining order and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of all seized devices. The case was reported by the Rhyl Journal on 15 March 2024, highlighting ongoing concerns about online grooming and the enforcement of sexual harm prevention measures in North Wales.