Exposed: Sex pest who asked women to send nude pics to fake model agency caught again

Ryan Eastwood pleaded guilty this week to breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) after police discovered he'd been contacting women in England on social media.

The 28-year-old sex pest, from Coolnagard View in Omagh, is deemed to be so dangerous he's banned from having access to the internet, a computer or a camera.

He's due to be sentenced later this year after it emerged a police investigation had discovered he'd compromised a number of social media accounts of two women.

The shame-faced sex offender, who covered his face during one court appearance a few years ago, is banned from starting relationships with women online.

In 2014 we revealed how Eastwood set up a fake model agency to persuade women to commit sex acts where he conned a woman into sending naked photos of herself.

The victim in that case was a friend of scheming Eastwood and she thought she was sending pictures to a model agency and that she had won a lucrative lingerie modelling contract.

After initially sending some naked pictures, she went to the police when Eastwood asked her to send pictures of her with sex toys.

On that occasion Eastwood was convicted of two counts of 'causing a person to engage in a sexual act' but walked free from Omagh Magistrates Court after he was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for three years and ordered to pay his victim compensation of £500.

But creepy Eastwood was back at the same behaviour four years later when he pleaded guilty to contacting women on Skype, having used a fake Facebook account.

He was jailed for six months at Antrim Crown Court after admitting one count of voyeurism and told to sign the sex offenders register for ten years.

On that occasion it emerged the victim received an email in March 2017 from an address that was similar to an email address for a legitimate modelling agency.

A man who gave his name as Ryan Edwards said he was interested in engaging a lingerie model and suggested conducting a Skype interview with the woman to assess whether she was suitable for a modelling contract.

The court heard that the victim became suspicious after the call and realised she had been duped when she checked the email address.

Eastwood was due to go on trial facing 23 charges, including nine counts of harassment, five of causing a person to engage in a sexual act and five of voyeurism.

All of the other counts were left on the books, apart from the single count of voyeurism, as the complainants stated that they no longer wished to be involved in the court process.

In sentencing, the judge told Eastwood: "You maintained to probation that social interaction was your motivation but it's clear your motivation like most sex offenders was based on abuse of power."

It was "clear that you are a bully", she told him.

She added: "Sexual-based cyber bullying was causing hurt, extending on occasion to suicide."

The judge said that the victim had "experienced thoughts of self-harm" and added that young people who are now spending more time online "require state protection".

It was during this hearing he was banned from developing online relationships with women.

But he has now confessed to breaching his SOPO by making social media contact with a female between October 4, 2019 and November 29, 2021.

At a previous hearing, a specialist PSNI officer from the Offender Management Unit told the court that police were investigating unauthorised access and compromise of Instagram and Snapchat accounts belonging to two victims in England.

Police there identified an email address sent to one of the victims' accounts, compromising it in the process.

The email was linked to an internet provider at Eastwood's home, although the account for that is in his mother's name.

Inquiries identified further social media accounts compromised by the same email and police believed Eastwood to be responsible.

The officer said: "As a registered sex offender, these communications put the defendant in breach of his SOPO."

A number of internet-capable devices were seized during a search of Eastwood's home and have been sent for forensic analysis.

Two devices were "actively paired to the home Wi-Fi, powered-up in the defendant's bedroom, namely a Smart television and an Amazon Fire TV stick".

This also breached the SOPO terms, the court was told. Paperwork relating to one compromised victim's email address was also found.

Opposing bail at the hearing, the officer said: "I have serious concerns that this behaviour has been ongoing for many, many months. We have four fraud reports from the mainland, and a telephone number has been found linking all. That number was provided to police by the defendant and it is the sole number he is permitted to have as part of his SOPO conditions."

Judge Bernie Kelly said she would require a pre-sentence report, "given the nature of the charge and previous record".

Eastwood was remanded on bail of £500 with a surety of £500. He was also banned from possessing any internet-capable device.

steven.moore@sundayworld.com