Former councillor jailed for child sex offences

A former Dudley councillor, who sat on the Children's Services Committee, has been sentenced after admitting four sexual offences involving children.

Adrian Hughes was caught by a police operation where officers impersonated two girls, one aged 12 and the other aged 13.

He also admitted charges of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child aged under 13 and with a child aged 13 to 15.

The offences took place during May and June 2025 when law enforcement officers created the characters of Lucy, aged 13 and Molly, aged 12 on the online platforms IB and Kick.

Miss Recorder A Siddiqi said: “You thought you were messaging 12 and 13-year-olds, you could have done a great deal of harm, unacceptable does not capture how appalling your behaviour was; immediate custody was inevitable.”

Hughes was suspended from the Labour Party in October 2023 following an undisclosed complaint about his behaviour which was the subject of a party investigation.

He sat on the Children's Services Select Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee from May to September 2023.

He was a member of the Children and Young Person’s Scrutiny Committee from May 2022 to May 2023 and also the Children’s Corporate Parenting Board from May 2022 to May 2023.

Georgia Faulke, for the defence, told the court Hughes was of previous good character and the offending took place over a short time when her client, who grew up with parents who misused alcohol, was suffering mental health problems.

Miss Faulke said: “It was a period of isolation, he wanted support from someone, someone to talk to. It stems from mental health difficulties he was going through at the time.”

The court also heard, during the offending, Hughes was self-medicating with cocaine, cannabis and alcohol but was now free from drugs and had dramatically reduced his drinking.

Recorder Siddiqi sentenced Hughes to 32 months in jail for attempting to incite a child into sexual activity and terms of 12, 15 and 12 months to run concurrently for the other three offences.

He was also made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to inform police of his address and any change of name, also for an indefinite period.