RTÉ producer Kieran Creaven has been charged with two offences in relation to attempting to engage in sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl.
He appeared at Leeds Magistrates Court this morning where he was charged with attempting to meet a child under the age of 16 following grooming. He was also charged with attempting to engage in sexual activity with an underage girl.
It is believed that he attempted to meet the teenage girl multiple times at the Queens Head Hotel in Leeds, between July 17 and November 18 of this year.
It is understood that the 54-year-old Irish man is a senior producer for RTÉ Sports.
Mr Creaven will be allowed to return home to Ireland, however, bail was granted on conditions that the man must return to Leeds Crown Court on December 12.
The terms of his bail state that he cannot have any unsupervised contact with children who are under the age of 16.
RTÉ producer charged with grooming girl for sexual activity https://t.co/mvq7S4SMQC via @IrishTimes
— Seán Dunne (@SeanJDunne) November 20, 2017
It also states that Mr Creaven must cooperate fully with the British police. He has been asked to surrender every device he owns that has internet access.
He will be allowed to return to his home in Ireland, but his address will not be published by order of the court.
The producer was ‘confronted’ by a group who created fake internet profiles to catch predators when he arrived in Leeds on Saturday.
The group supposedly filmed the 54-year-old’s arrest.
It has been reported that police were called to the scene. According to The Irish Mirror, Yorkshire Police said, “Police were called yesterday Saturday 18 November to reports of a man attempting to engage or incite sexual activity with a child in Leeds.”
RTÉ released information about the arrest during their nightly news segment.
They issued a statement, “RTÉ has been made aware of this matter which is being dealt with by Yorkshire police forces in the UK."
They have announced that they will not be commenting further.
