Alan Topham, the Riddlesden Paedophile, who transmitted sexual messages to a 14-year-old girl and coordinated a meeting with her at a Norwich hotel has been incarcerated.
Alan Topham, 69, of Bradford Road, Riddlesden, West Yorkshire, made sexual advances towards a girl who was, in reality, an undercover investigator acting as a decoy.
On 18 March 2025, he contacted her via a ‘burner phone’ on Snapchat, claiming to be 55 years old and employed in the construction industry in West Yorkshire.
The conversation rapidly turned explicit, with Alan Topham expressing his preference for a girl capable of maintaining confidentiality.
The correspondence featuring explicit sexual details persisted for several weeks, culminating in an arrangement to meet the girl at a Norwich hotel for sexual intercourse on Monday, April 7.
Alan Topham was apprehended at the hotel by officers from the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Online Team and transported to Wymondham Police Investigation Centre for interrogation.
He was then charged with inciting a minor to engage in sexual activity, conspiring to commit a sexual offence against a child, engaging in sexual communication with a child, and seeking to meet a girl under 16 after grooming.
Alan Topham acknowledged three charges but refuted the allegation of attempting to meet a girl under 16 after grooming.
He was present in Norwich Crown Court on Tuesday, 8 July 2025, when he received a sentence of three years and four months in prison. The charge he refuted was recorded by the court.
During the interrogation, he confessed to the officers that he recognised his intentions towards the child were inappropriate and that he was repulsed by himself.
Alan Topham stated that it was the inaugural instance of his participation in such behaviour and offered no justification or argument.
Alan Topham stated that the sole reason he did not proceed with his intention to meet the girl was due to his arrest.
He was permanently registered as a sex offender and issued a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for a duration of ten years.
The judge stated that Alan Topham’s offences demonstrated considerable premeditation, the gravity of which necessitated a jail sentence.
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