PAUL LEWIS SENTENCED IN SWANSEA FOR GROOMING INCIDENTS INVOLVING UNDERAGE DECEIVERS
A man named Paul Leslie Lewis, from Somerset Place, Maritime Quarter, Swansea, was caught attempting to meet a teenage girl after engaging in online grooming.The incident began in May when Lewis started messaging what he believed to be a 14-year-old girl on Facebook Messenger.
The profile was actually a decoy operated by a paedophile hunter group called Black Flag Hunters.
Lewis communicated with the decoy, using the alias 'Paul Rio,' and asked about her age.
The decoy replied she was "only 14," and Lewis claimed he was 28, despite being 56 at the time.
He stated he was from Swansea, while she said she was from Blackburn and had a grandmother living in Cardiff.
He also claimed to work for famous rock bands and sent her a black-and-white photo of Queen along with images of himself with a guitar, claiming he was performing.
As the conversation progressed, Lewis encouraged the decoy to meet up, suggesting she try different things and noting that it was their 15th birthday soon—information he marked down in his diary.
He expressed regret that she would not be in Swansea, saying, "it was a shame she would not be in Swansea as he would have bought her a birthday treat." During their online chats, Lewis also offered to teach her how to kiss properly and expressed a desire to hold and cuddle her.
He instructed her to keep quiet about their conversations until she was 16.
The situation escalated when the decoy mentioned planning to visit her grandmother in Cardiff.
Lewis began calling her his "beautiful sexy girlfriend babe" and pushed to meet her, offering to pick her up in Cardiff.
She declined, saying she would take the train back to her grandmother’s house.
He also offered to buy her swimwear.
They arranged to meet on Saturday, May 22.
Lewis had sent the decoy a photo of himself so she could recognize him.
However, as he approached the train station on High Street, he was intercepted by the paedophile hunter group instead of meeting her.
The group contacted police, who arrested Lewis, and he was soon taken into custody.
During police interrogation, Lewis acknowledged their conversations, stating, "I knew you would need to speak to me." His home was searched, revealing a diary with the decoy’s 15th birthday noted, along with an internet search for GHB, a drug commonly associated with date rape.
Lewis also provided a no comment interview at the police station and was subsequently charged.
He faced multiple charges, including attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming and engaging in sexual communication with a child.
Lewis also faced a separate charge related to an encounter with a different decoy operated by another paedophile hunter group called Fleetwood Enforcers.
Representing Lewis at Swansea Crown Court, his barrister Andrew Evans explained that Lewis had been living a solitary lifestyle for many years and had struggled with alcohol abuse, though these were not excuses for his actions.
Judge Huw Rees sentenced Lewis to 12 months in prison, emphasizing the seriousness of the offences.
