A convicted paedophile who secretly worked as a police informant targeting activists while simultaneously engaging in the worst forms of child abuse exposes a shocking failure in law enforcement oversight that should alarm every parent in Britain.
Story Snapshot
- Trey O’Riordan received 15 months in prison for possessing videos showing abuse of babies, including a one-year-old child
- He worked as a police informant from 2011-2012 while undergoing sex offender treatment, creating rehabilitation conflicts
- Police instructed him to hide his informant role from his probation officer, potentially sabotaging his treatment
- Court reduced his sentence by nine months as reward for past cooperation, despite his high risk of reoffending
The Double Life of a Police Asset
O’Riordan’s criminal trajectory began in 2011 when police discovered over 200 indecent images on his devices. Rather than receive prison time, he was sentenced to community service and immediately recruited as an informant. This decision would prove catastrophically misguided, as he continued accessing the most depraved content imaginable while supposedly helping law enforcement catch other predators.
Police informant revealed as a paedophile. There must be an investigation into what benefits this shifty snitch was given by police. https://t.co/sWm8rMtAdy
— UKCP (@UKCorruptPolice) October 11, 2025
The arrangement created an impossible contradiction. While O’Riordan attended mandatory sex offender treatment sessions, he was simultaneously operating in the dark corners of the internet under police protection. His handlers explicitly instructed him not to reveal his informant status to his probation officer, effectively undermining any chance of genuine rehabilitation.
When Rehabilitation Becomes Theatre
The defense team’s revelation that O’Riordan’s covert role “considerably set him back” in his treatment exposes a fundamental flaw in using convicted sex offenders as informants. How can someone address their criminal psychology when they’re actively engaged in the very networks they’re supposed to be infiltrating? The answer, as this case demonstrates, is they cannot.
By 2022, O’Riordan had downloaded Category A videos showing the sexual abuse of a one-year-old baby. He engaged in what prosecutors called “depraved” conversations about “newborn, toddlers, early years” children. These weren’t the actions of someone whose rehabilitation was progressing—these were the escalating behaviors of an untreated predator operating under law enforcement cover.
Justice Compromised by Expediency
Perhaps most troubling is how the Jersey court rewarded O’Riordan’s past cooperation despite his horrific reoffending. Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae reduced the sentence from 24 months to 15 months, citing his “extremely valuable” intelligence work. This sends a chilling message that helping police catch other predators can serve as an insurance policy against future crimes.
The court classified O’Riordan as high-risk for reoffending, noted his lack of stable housing, ongoing substance abuse, and continued sexual interest in infants. Yet his informant work still warranted mitigation. This precedent suggests the justice system values short-term investigative gains over long-term public safety and genuine accountability for the most vulnerable victims.
Sources:
Jersey Evening Post – Man jailed for downloading indecent images of children
Wikipedia – Paedophile Information Exchange
West Yorkshire Police – Freedom of Information Response on Online Child Abuse Activist Groups
