Derg man caught in paedophile hunter sting jailed for a year

A CASTLEDERG man who was caught in a ‘sting’ operation by so-called paedophile hunters has been jailed for a year.

At Dungannon Crown Court today (Friday), Nigel Harpur (53), of Derg View, was handed the prison term for attempted sexual communications with a child.

The court heard that the offending occurred between December 29, 2023 and February 20 of this year, when Harpur was using an app called ‘FastMeet’ under the alias ‘William Greg’.

He began talking to a girl claiming to be 14-years-old. However, this was later revealed to be a decoy.

Harpur asked for the girl’s phone number so they could text on WhatsApp. Shortly after, the messaging became sexual.

The 52-year-old told the girl, “Don’t tell anyone (about the conversation) or they’ll send me to jail.”

Harpur proceeded to ask about the colour of their underwear.

He also sent an 11-second pornographic video to the girl.

During this time he sent multiple photos of himself, including a photo of him standing shirtless.

Later in the conversation, he said he wanted to bathe with her and that, if they met up, he wanted to ‘make love’ with what he believed to be a 14-year-old, warning that it ‘might hurt’.

On February 24, he texted again and told the decoy to delete all of the messages and texts from him.

Shortly after he was confronted by ‘Children and Survivors’, a paedophile vigilante group who questioned him on his messages.

Harpur immediately confessed but asked them not to ring the police. However, the police were called and he was arrested, making full admissions at interview but stating that the girl ‘looked 18’ in photos.

Further investigation on his device revealed that he was talking to two other decoys posing as children.

A defence barrister told the court that Harpur pleaded guilty at arraignment and the pre-sentence report said he had a ‘low likelihood of reoffending’.

However, His Honour Judge Richard Greene said that he was ‘concerned’ with his offending, noting that if the decoy had been an actual child that it would have been much more serious.

Judge Greene noted Harpur’s remorse, shown through his pre-sentence report and early admissions of guilt.

However, he added that this conviction will pose difficulties on his children and said that Harpur had since become separated from his wife.

Harpur was sentenced to one year in custody, with a Sexual Offences Prevention Order imposed for ten years and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for the same amount of time.