Luke Pryor, Sheffield: "Determined sex offender" snared by paedophile hunters for second time in three years

Luke Pryor is now back behind bars after an online “vigilante” paedophile hunter group behind the Facebook profile of a 14-year-old “girl” helped to expose his continued sexual interest in young girls.

In a communication initiated by Pryor in October 2025 after he sent a friend request, Pryor sent naked pictures of himself to the profile, which used the name “Emily.”

Pryor also sent videos showing him committing a lewd act, and made repeated requests for her to respond in kind and send pictures of herself wearing “less and less clothing,” Sheffield Crown Court heard during hearings held on November 26 and 27, 2025.

Sending Pryor to begin a three-year prison sentence, Judge Peter Hampton told him: “Mr Pryor, I have to conclude that you are a determined sex offender that seeks out children to satisfy your own perverted sexual desires.

“Previous sentences have not managed to abate your offending, your behaviour, your decision to ignore court orders in pursuing these offences.”

Pryor, aged 29, was first convicted of engaging in sexual communication in 2020 when he received a community order for three counts of that offence, along with three counts of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act. He was also made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), restricting his use of the internet and prohibiting him from having contact with children, during the same hearing.

Then in 2022, Pryor breached his SHPO to commit almost identical offences, encouraging sexual activity from and involving, an account he believed belonged to a 13-year-old girl, but was in fact being run by a paedophile hunter group called Defending the Innocent.

He received a two-year prison sentence for that set of offences.

The same SHPO was still in place, when Pryor, of Owler Road, Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, breached the order yet again to engage in sexual communication with “Emily.”

A different paedophile hunter group, described as “vigilantes” by prosecutor Ella Fornsworth, were behind Emily’s decoy profile.

Ms Fornsworth said it was clearly marked on Emily’s profile that she was 14-years-old, and when Pryor asked for her age in his second message to her, “Emily” also told him she was 14.

Pryor told Emily that he was 17-years-old - 12 years younger than his actual age - but when she challenged that and said he looked older, he claimed to be 20.

Detailing Pryor’s criminal conduct in the exchanges that followed, Judge Hampton said: “You were seeking out a 14-year-old girl, in my view, to indulge in your proclivity for sexual messaging.”

“Asking her to wear less and less clothing…you sent her sexual messages of yourself.”

“You asked for naked pictures of her.”

Pryor also asked the girl about her level of sexual experience, and suggested he could be “her first,” the court heard.

He was arrested after the paedophile hunter group attempted to confront Pryor at his Sheffield home, before calling police out to the scene.

Pryor pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child aged between 13 and 15 and breach of a sexual harm prevention order.

Ms Fornsworth told the court that Pryor has a record of 11 previous offences from three convictions, including a further court order breach in September 2024 relating to his failure to adhere to his notification requirements as a registered sex offender.

Defending, Laura Marshall told the court that Pryor’s best point of mitigation was his guilty pleas.

She described Pryor as being someone who was “isolated,” telling the court that while he lives with others, he is “effectively on his own 24/7.”

Ms Marshall said Pryor was supposed to be enrolled on a sex offender treatment programme around the time of his first conviction in 2020, but that has still not taken place more than five years later.

“He’s desperate to have an understanding of his offending behaviour. What he tells me is: ‘I really wanted to do that course so I could have someone explain to me what I can do to control it’.”

Ms Marshall suggested that without that intervention, and guidance, Pryor was likely to remain on the same cycle of offending, prison and loneliness, inevitably leading to more offending and the cycle beginning again. She suggested that Pryor receiving a suspended sentence may be one way of addressing the reasons for his offending behaviour, due to such programmes only being available to defendants who remain in the community.

As he sent Pryor to begin his latest prison sentence, Judge Hampton said he had taken Ms Marshall’s point concerning the defendant being stuck in a cycle of offending into consideration, but added: “The point is you commit further offences while you’re the subject of court orders. For that reason, I have no confidence you won’t do the same again.”

Dressed in a grey long sleeved shirt, blue body warmer and jeans, Pryor spent much of the court hearing with the collar of the body warmer pulled up, concealing the lower half of his face.

He seemed emotionless as he was led out of court to begin his latest prison sentence.

In addition to three years’ imprisonment, Pryor was also made the subject of a 20-year sexual harm prevention order, and was told he must remain on the sex offenders’ register for life.