Ryan Turner was jailed at Christchurch District Court. Photo / Kurt Bayer
Warning: Disturbing content
A 38-year-old man who offered to pay a mother $4000 to send him disturbing, sexually-explicit photographs of her infant child – which she subsequently did – has been jailed for more than three years.
Ryan Francis Turner can be named for the first time today after name suppression lapsed – and the full horrendous details of his “extensive and very serious” offending can be revealed.
He entered guilty pleas earlier to six charges, including sexual violation, blackmail, and making and possessing objectional material, and last month at Christchurch District Court was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison.
“It may be that in some quarters it would be viewed as a light sentence but it results from reasonably significant deductions which are appropriately supported by the wealth of information that I have been provided,” Judge Tom Gilbert said at sentencing.
Turner first came to the attention of police after one victim’s mother found out about an online chat with him, the summary of facts says.
Officers carried out a search warrant at his house and took away electronic devices for forensic examination.
They discovered a host of other offences.
Turner had a habit of masquerading online as a young teenage boy, the summary says.
His general approach would be to message people, seeing if he could ask them a question.
If they responded, a conversation would follow where he would usually offer money in exchange for nude images and sexualised conversations.
In March last year, using a false ID on Facebook Messenger, he approached a New Zealand mother and asked for extremely-graphic images of a 4-month-old child. He agreed to pay $4000 if she did.
He received two images – and then more.
When the mother asked him for the money, he didn’t pay up, the summary says.
The mother was later charged and is also going through the courts. She has permanent name suppression to protect the identity of her child.
Last June, using Facebook again under a fictitious name, he privately messaged an 11-year-old boy, asking if he wanted to earn some money.
Turner said he was a 16-year-old female and during chats, said he would send the boy a photo of his breasts, if the victim would send a photo of his private parts.
He then sent a photo of a female with her breasts exposed and said it was his photo, the summary says.
Turner offered the victim $100 and offered to buy him a new computer mouse if they sent him a photo.
On June 15, the boy’s mother became aware of the conversation – and pretended to be her son.
Six days later, a detective who deals with sexual abuse imaging, continued the conversation.
Officers also found that he’d been talking to an 11-year-old girl in May, demanding nude images and claimed that he loved her.
He also blackmailed a 17-year-old woman through a fake ID on Snapchat.
Turner claimed to have nude images of her from someone else and threatened to show others unless she shared photos or videos of her naked.
The woman felt pressured and provided a naked video via Snapchat which he recorded.
When spoken to by police, Turner made full admissions and spoke about “good Ryan and bad Ryan”.
At his sentencing hearing on October 20, Turner objected to having his photograph taken by the Herald, claiming it was “barbaric” and adding, “It’s not like I’m a murderer or anything”.
Turner’s mother, who flew down from the North Island for the sentencing with another supporter, also stood up in court to claim it was “completely unfair” that her son should have his photograph taken given that he suffers from Asperger’s.
“I don’t want to see a witch hunt-type action towards taking a photo of my son Ryan,” she said.
Defence counsel Todd Nicholls said Turner had shown “genuine” remorse towards his victims, and wrote a letter of apology which was presented to Judge Gilbert. The judge accepted that his remorse was sincere and genuine.
Nicholls said the ending of his marriage was major factor in his offending.
Judge Gilbert jailed Turner for three years, seven months, noting that he will also be automatically placed on the child sex offender’s register.
“I hope that within prison you get access to the child sex offender programmes, I imagine that you will, given your offending,” the judge told Turner before he was taken into custody.
“You are fortunate to have good supports within the community. Whilst I am sure they do not condone your actions, they will be there for you when the time comes for your release.”
Outside court, Turner’s supporters approached the Herald to again complain about their treatment of the offender before his lawyer said they had no comment to make.