Uni professor from Newcastle in court over sexual messages and proposed hotel meet with ‘teen’

A university professor from Newcastle has appeared in court over communications to who he thought was a 14-year-old boy.

Francis Lewis thought he was communicating with teenager who he discussed meeting with at a hotel, but was actually speaking to an undercover police officer.

A court heard that, despite being told the child’s age, the 49-year-old continued to send explicit messages, talked about meeting in a hotel and discussed the sexual acts they could do together, ChronicleLive reports. 

After communicating for two months on Snapchat, Lewis eventually ended their contact and explained he wanted to wait until the boy was 16.

Lewis, of Croydon Road, in Arthur’s Hill, was arrested and pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Leanne Pearce, prosecuting at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court, said Lewis began chatting with the decoy officer on March 25th 2025. Mrs Pearce said: “The defendant is a university professor who engaged with an undercover operative on Snapchat. The undercover operative makes it clear that he is 14, almost 15.

“The defendant engages in conversation throughout, which is sexual in nature. At one point, there was discussion about arranging to meet in a hotel and the defendant makes sexually explicit comments about what they could do together.”

The court heard that, on May 8th, Lewis told the decoy that he wanted to end their conversations and wait until he had turned 16, however, he was arrested soon after.

Ian Hudson, defending, said Lewis had no past convictions, had pleaded guilty and had now lost his job as a university professor.

Mr Hudson added: “He did disengage with the child. This is also an attempted sexual communication as no child actually existed.”

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Magistrates adjourned the case for the preparation of a pre-sentence reported. Lewis was released on conditional bail to return to court on February 19th.

He must sign the Sex Offenders’ Register.

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