Sex offender from Halesowen jailed for offences against children
Matthew Reilly's been sentenced to 9 years behind bars
Last updated 8th Jul 2024
A man who carried out a series of online sexual offences against children across the UK has been sent to prison.
Matthew Reilly, from Halesowen, was sentenced to nine years at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Thursday (27 June) after pleading guilty to a total of 34 sex offences in February.
It's after Police began an investigation into Reilly – a registered sex offender – in January last year after they discovered an indecent image of a child had been uploaded to online messaging platform Snapchat. The image was traced to an account linked to Reilly. Police executed a search warrant at his Halesowen home, arresting the 39-year-old and seizing his electronic devices for analysis.
Police found indecent images of children on his phone along with details of a Snapchat account Reilly had been using to pose as a 15-year-old boy. Further analysis revealed that the account had been sexually communicating with girls aged 11 to 15 years old over a four-month period between October 2021 and January 2022.
Reilly was further arrested on 29 September 2023 in light of the evidence Police uncovered. He was subsequently charged with 52 offences and remanded in custody at a later date.
Reilly pleaded guilty at a hearing in February this year and a previous earlier hearing to 18 counts of sexual communication with a child under 16, one count of causing/inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and five counts of causing a child under 16 to watch a sexual act.
He also pleaded guilty to eight counts of making an indecent image of a child. These were made up of one count of Category A – the most serious, one for Category B and six counts for Category C.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing indecent images of a child (Category C).
Detective Constable Jack Dobbinson, who worked on the case for our Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team said:
“Matthew Reilly is a dangerous sexual predator who exploited and abused children online. He did so under the guise of a much younger person in order to gain their trust – a trust he betrayed in the most appalling fashion.
“I commend the victims and their families for their courage and cooperation throughout our investigation. I’d also like to thank our colleagues across other force areas for their assistance. I do hope that by seeing him put away, all of those affected by Reilly’s offences can move on with their lives.”