Nightmare Leeds neighbour jailed for framing man as online paedophile during dispute

Vindictive Ryan Flower, who had an ongoing dispute with his victim, set up an online account in the man’s name and even used his photo before trying to communicate with a 12-year-old girl online and making sexual comments towards her.

The innocent man was arrested, but was released hours later after the computer IP address was traced to 44-year-old Flower.

Prosecuting at Leeds Crown Court this week, Jonathan Sharp said: “The effect on him (the neighbour) has been devastating. He was arrested in front of his wife, escorted from his house, taken to police station and locked in a cell. He was thinking his life was over.”

Mr Sharp said that despite being cleared of any wrongdoing, he was still under suspicion from some.

The victim’s personal impact statement read: “This entire incident has caused me massive personal problems. My family find it unbelievable that somebody could do this. These last few years have been absolute hell, all because of the actions of Ryan Flower.”

Mr Sharp said the dispute between the pair had been festering “for some time”, but usually involved incidents over parking and other trivial matters, with both parties to blame at times.

But Flower set up the E-Chat account under his neighbour’s name and added the photo. Flower used the account to get in touch with a person purporting to be the 12-year-old girl. The court heard that Flower suspected it was a decoy account by online paedophile hunters and would eventually lead to his neighbour’s arrest.

He made sexualised comments to the ‘girl’ on four occasions in June 2020. After the police realised it was coming from Flower’s address, they moved in to arrest him and seize his phone, on which they found the evidence.

Flower, whose address was given as Manstone Grove, Crossgates, gave no comment during his police interview but provided a prepared statement. He later admitted a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice. He has no previous convictions.

Mitigating his behalf, Sean Smith told the court that there had been problems caused by both neighbours, but conceded the actions of Flower in this instance “could not be justified”.

He added: “There is remorse. He has been forced to move away from his home address. He accepts what he did was wholly wrong. There are clearly thinking deficits here.”

He added that Flower has health problems and feared the return of a brain tumour he had suffered earlier in his life. Mr Smith said that jailing him could also cause financial problems for his family.

But the judge, Recorder Alex Menary, said prison was unavoidable. He gave him a six-month sentence and told him: “You intended to cause him trouble, and it came to his door. He thought he was going to lose everything. He is wholly innocent but there remains lingering doubt, that there’s no smoke without fire. There’s no way this court can consider anything other than an immediate custodial sentence.”