A Nigerian student in the United Kingdom, Anderson Ishiekwene, has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of attempting to meet someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl for sexual purposes.

According to a BBC report, the 25-year-old was arrested in Washington, England, after arranging a meeting with what he believed was a teenage girl. The profile, however, was operated by an online child protection group conducting a sting operation.

Ishiekwene, who moved to the UK from Nigeria on a student visa in August 2025 and was living in Sunderland, reportedly initiated contact through Facebook on January 2 before continuing the conversation on WhatsApp.

Prosecutors told Newcastle Crown Court that over an eight-day period, the defendant exchanged hundreds of messages with the decoy despite repeatedly being informed that the person was 14 years old.

The court heard that during the conversations, he allegedly requested explicit photographs, sent a sexually explicit image of himself and repeatedly encouraged the supposed teenager to delete their messages. He also discussed meeting in person and allegedly expressed intentions to engage in sexual activity.

A meeting was arranged at the Galleries shopping centre in Washington on January 10. When Ishiekwene arrived at the agreed location, he was confronted by members of the child protection group before police officers took him into custody.

Although he denied travelling to meet a child for sexual purposes, a jury convicted him after a three-day trial of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming. He had earlier pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

While delivering judgment, Judge Robert Spragg described the planned encounter as an initial step toward more serious sexual offences. The court also noted a probation assessment that expressed concern about Ishiekwene’s sexual interest in children.

In addition to the three-year prison sentence, the court ordered him to remain on the sex offenders register and comply indefinitely with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The judge further stated that Ishiekwene is expected to face automatic deportation from the United Kingdom after completing his prison sentence.