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RTÉ producer pleads guilty to attempted grooming

RTÉ producer pleads guilty to attempted grooming

Update 10.37am: Kieran Creaven has pleaded guilty to charges of attempted grooming and trying to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, according to reports.

The RTÉ sports producer has admitted sex offences after he was confronted by so-called paedophile hunters when he travelled to the UK to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl.

At Leeds Crown Court today, Kieran Creaven, 55, admitted attempting to meet a child following grooming for a sexual purpose and of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, namely kissing and cuddling.

Creaven flew from Ireland to Leeds to meet up at The Queens Hotel with the "girl", who was in fact a fake online identity created by a group of so-called paedophile hunters.

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The offences were said to have taken place from July 1 - when the defendant first contacted the "girl" online - to November 18 when he arrived at the hotel in the city.

He was released on bail to be sentenced on February 12.

At a hearing in November, prosecutor Jill Seddon told Leeds Magistrates' Court that Creaven, of Dublin, said in one message that he "felt horny" and that he also sent a photograph of an erect penis.

The 54-year-old with an address in Dublin has been suspended from duty at RTÉ pending the outcome of the case.

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Earlier: RTÉ producer due in court

An RTÉ sports producer is due in court in the UK today on charges of grooming and trying to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

54-year-old Kieran Creaven with an address in Dublin was arrested in Leeds last month after he was confronted by a vigilante group who claim they had been posing as a child online.

Mr Creaven was released on bail and allowed to return to Ireland.

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He is due before Leeds Crown Court later.

RTÉ has suspended him from duty pending the outcome of the case.

He has not indicated how he intends to plead.

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