2 weeks Ago
A paedophile pilot was caught in a police sting when he went to meet who he thought was a 13-year-old boy. Michael Dyos had arranged to meet the teenager, called “Rory”, at a car park in Littlehampton. But he would find out the boy, who he had been grooming online, was an undercover police officer.
Lewes Crown Court heard on Monday that the 59-year-old of College Road, Southwater, was already a registered sex offender after downloading more than 1,000 indecent images of children. Sarah Thorne, prosecuting, told the court Dyos had arranged the “ultimate fantasy” when he planned to meet the officer, thinking it was an underage boy. Dyos was arrested in July 2024 after grooming the person he thought was a child after meeting him on a legitimate adult dating app.
Read more: Primary school girl attacked in park by child while several others watched "'Rory' told him he was 13," Ms Thorne said, "Rory makes it very clear he has had experience.” "You encouraged and fostered that," she told Dyos. "I just wanted to keep talking," Dyos told Lewes Crown Court.
"I was just looking for company." Ms Thorne told him: "He's a 13-year-old boy and that's what you thought he was." "Yes," Dyos said.
"It was just messages, fantasies. "It's just unfortunate that's the profile I stumbled across." Ms Thorne said: "It was the ultimate escape to have sex with this boy you have groomed online? "That's what was happening, wasn't it?" Dyos said: "Not in my mind it wasn't.
" The former Virgin pilot was grounded after a conviction in 2021 for downloading the most serious category of indecent images of children. He was given an eight-month suspended sentence and was placed on the sex offender register until 2031. Recorder James Hay said Dyos had arranged to meet the officer in June and July last year after being told he was a 13-year-old boy.
He drove his Audi to the car park where instead he was met with undercover police. Meals and a cheesecake were found in his home fridge after discussions about what food Rory liked. "There is a highly concerning background of you contacting teenage boys," Recorder Hay said.
Dyos was jailed for a total of two years and six months after pleading guilty to one count of arranging/facilitating the offence of causing/inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order by communicating with a concealed phone. The Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which was in place before the commission of these offences, remains in place until April 2031. Detective Constable Justin Marsden, of the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “Dyos is a predatory sex offender, who travelled to Littlehampton with the specific intention of meeting up with a child.
“Thanks to the efforts of our team, he will now be spending time in prison, where he will no longer be a threat to children.”.
