A PAEDOPHILE who thought he was talking to a 14-year-old girl is on the run from prison.
Nalika Ranasinghe exchanged 1,200 messages with a person he thought was a teenage girl.
The 55-year-old first contacted the ‘girl’ in February 2023, not knowing it was actually a decoy account set up by an online child activist group.
Despite the ‘child’ telling Ranasinghe she was only 14 years old from the outset, he proceeded to turn conversations sexual, encouraging her to engage in sexual acts both by herself and with her 12-year-old cousin.
After exchanging more than 1,200 messages, the activist group confronted Ranasinghe at his home on February 14, 2023. They then called the police.
On arrest, Ranasinghe, of The Hythe, Littleport, admitted to sending the messages.
However, he claimed that he knew he was speaking to an adult man, and that he did not believe the account belonged to a 14-year-old girl.
Ranasinghe was released on court bail and did not attend his sentencing on Thursday, March 20.
He had been found guilty of two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, and two counts of attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity.
The 55-year-old was jailed for six years and six months in his absence on Thursday, March 20, at Cambridge Crown Court.
Detective Sergeant Mike Paget said: “Ranasinghe was extremely persistent in his pursuit of sexual gratification from this ‘child’, who continually tried to reject his advances.
He poses a significant risk to children, which is reflected in the sentence, and we are keen to arrest him as soon as possible so he goes to prison.
“I would urge anyone who knows of his whereabouts to contact police straight away.”
