Sex pest jailed for pursuing teenage girl on Facebook

Noel Rigby, 57, of Harlech Street, Ashton-in-Makerfield, was jailed for 18 months for inciting sexual activity with a child at Liverpool Crown Court.

He will also be placed on the sexual offenders register and be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

The court heard that Rigby approached the 15-year-old victim on Greenfield Avenue, in Ince-in-Makerfield in August 2015, and made a number of inappropriate comments.

The following day, Rigby sought out the girl on Facebook and added her as a friend before bombarding her with explicit messages.

Rigby asked her to make sure she was deleting the messages but the girl showed them to the police and he was arrested.

Detective Constable Rachel Forsythe, of GMP’s Wigan Child Sexual Exploitation team, said: “Rigby has approached this girl in the street and made deeply inappropriate comments.

“He has then gone out of his way to track her down on Facebook and continued to flood her with explicit messages.

“I want to pay tribute to the bravery of this young girl in coming forward and helping us to secure this conviction.

“I hope today’s sentence demonstrates our commitment to pursuing sexual predators, no matter where they are or how long it takes.”

Speaking after the trial, her family said: “As a result of what happened to my daughter, I saw her change almost overnight.

“My little girl, who was happy and confident, disappeared before me and in her place was a closed and quiet child. I found this heart breaking and difficult to deal with because I didn’t know how to make it better for her.

“As a family we have experienced many emotions throughout this investigation, but we are eased by the fact that the case has been heard in court and we can achieve some closure on the matter.

“We are grateful to the court for the sentence passed today and I believe that we can finally move on and put this behind us.”