**Serial Sex Offender Alan Cherry Jailed Again After Internet Offences Involving Child**
A repeat sex offender described in court as a “prolific paedophile” has once again been sentenced to prison, reigniting concerns over his persistent offending and lack of rehabilitation. Alan Cherry, 67, from St Helens in Merseyside, is back behind bars after being caught attempting to initiate sexual conversations with what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl online.
Cherry’s previous conviction records reveal a deeply troubling pattern. In 2021, he received a custodial sentence lasting just over three years for related crimes, involving explicit communications with children and violating a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). Despite these interventions, Cherry’s offending behaviour has continued relentlessly. Most notably, he once reportedly told police, “the only way I can be cured is if I’m not alive,” highlighting the severity and seemingly incurable nature of his criminal compulsion.
Details presented at Liverpool Crown Court this May revealed how Cherry’s most recent offending followed a familiar and disturbing script. According to investigators, he initiated contact with a child he presumed to be 13 and proceeded to incite her to take part in sexual activities across digital platforms. Law enforcement officials from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit swiftly identified and located Cherry, leading to his arrest on 25 March.
During court proceedings, Cherry accepted the charges of attempting sexual communication with a child, attempting to incite a child to perform sexual activity, and breaching the very order meant to prevent him approaching or contacting minors. He was handed a sentence of four years and two months following his admission of guilt.
Cherry’s history with the legal system stretches back several years, punctuated by repeated arrests and convictions for sexually explicit online communications with minors—many of whom turned out to be decoy profiles created by law enforcement or citizen ‘paedophile hunter’ groups. In 2017, one such police sting involved a supposed 13-year-old girl, ‘Chloe’, in a series of chats and video calls during which Cherry engaged in unacceptable and criminal conduct, including exposing himself live on camera.
A subsequent search of Cherry’s home by officers led to the discovery of indecent material, including graphic images of children as young as three. That incident resulted in a community order in 2018, with the aim of rehabilitation through a sex offenders programme—a route which, it appears, was tragically unsuccessful.
By 2019, Cherry was once again before the courts after sharing sexually explicit photos with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl. This case came to light thanks to the intervention of a volunteer vigilante group, who posed as the teenager online under the alias ‘Sarah’ and confronted Cherry in Liverpool’s city centre until police could attend. He was jailed once again, but released under conditions that he subsequently breached, repeating his offences online.
Court accounts suggest this disturbing cycle has proven impossible for Cherry to break. He later admitted to police that he felt incurable and struggled to understand his own motivations, reportedly feeling ‘disgusted’ and ashamed. His legal counsel has previously painted a picture of a man living in isolation after an accident left him unable to continue his former work as a window cleaner, suggesting that loneliness played a role in his descent into criminal behaviour.
Despite previous opportunities for treatment and warnings from the judiciary, Cherry was later found to have initiated sexual conversations with further decoy profiles in 2021, for which he was again imprisoned. Each time, the outcome has been variations of a familiar theme: arrest, remorseful statements, brief sentences, and ultimately, recidivism.
Law enforcement and victims’ advocates have voiced renewed concern about Cherry’s repeated offences and their implications for public safety. The case underscores both the persistent risk some sex offenders pose and the significant challenges faced by the justice system in protecting children from online exploitation.
As Cherry embarks on his latest prison sentence, questions once more arise about the adequacy of current measures to monitor and rehabilitate repeat offenders, and whether more needs to be done to keep vulnerable children safe from those who appear unable or unwilling to change.