EditorSwansea man jailed after sending sexual messages to decoy accounts while in hospital
A judge said it was “mindboggling” that 43‑year‑old Adrian Fine had been engaging in sexual conversations from his hospital bed, and concluded the risk he posed could not be safely managed in the community.
Fine, originally from Llanelli but subsequently living in bed and breakfast accommodation on Oystermouth Road in Swansea, contacted three social media profiles in March 2025, believing they belonged to girls aged 13 and 14. The accounts were actually decoys run by members of an online “paedophile hunter” group, who later passed the material to South Wales Police.
Sexual messages sent from hospital
Swansea Crown Court heard that Fine sent a series of explicit messages over several days, discussed sexual acts, asked intimate questions and requested images. He repeatedly referred to himself as “daddy” and told the profiles to keep the conversations secret so he would not “get into trouble”.
He also suggested meeting one of the supposed girls once he was discharged from hospital.
Members of the online group later created a fake Facebook profile pretending to be an old school friend in order to obtain Fine’s address. Police arrested him shortly afterwards. He admitted the messages were “wrong”.
‘Clearly a threat to children’
South Wales Police said Fine believed he was speaking to children throughout the conversations.
Detective Constable Kelly Hurley, South Wales Police, said:
“Adrian Fine was fully of the belief that the accounts he was messaging belonged to children. It remains staggering that there are people like Fine out there who will be told that they are talking to a child and yet still persist in attempting to have a sexual conversation.
“He is clearly a threat to children and so it is therefore only right that he is going to prison.”
Judge: behaviour was ‘mindboggling’
The court heard Fine had no previous convictions and had worked in theatre production for more than a decade. His barrister said he had lost his home, relationship and family support following the offending and was now living in temporary accommodation.
Judge Geraint Walters said he had “rarely read such a disappointing pre‑sentence report”, noting Fine had offered “not a word of explanation” and denied having a sexual interest in children. The judge said he had been driven to the conclusion that Fine had a “deep‑rooted sexual interest in young teenage girls”.
Fine pleaded guilty to three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. He was jailed for 12 months, with all sentences to run concurrently. He will serve up to half the term in custody before being released on licence.
He was also made subject to a 10‑year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be on the sex offenders register for the same period.
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