EXCLUSIVE: London’s Metropolitan Police has admitted that its investigation into a producer, who allegedly sent unsolicited dick pics to actresses, has been delayed by months amid an issue with uploading digital evidence to its systems.
A Deadline investigation in July revealed that Ryan Kirwan, one of the UK’s go-to producers of showreels for young actors, was accused by four women of sending unsolicited nude images between 2021 and 2024. In October, The Sun newspaper published further allegations about Kirwan, including that he sent an “X-rated picture” to the star of a BBC show.
Kirwan, 33, did not deny the allegations against him when contacted by Deadline in July. In a statement at the time, he acknowledged “actions that are extremely out of character” and said his behavior was the result of cocaine addiction and poor mental health.
Cyberflashing is a criminal offense in the UK under Section 66A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Metropolitan Police confirmed it was investigating the claims. More than four months on, however, Deadline understands the police force has made little progress.
In July, Nikki — a pseudonym we are using to disguise the identity of a young actress — said she sent Scotland Yard evidence of the messages and images she received from Kirwan. She did not receive a substantial update about the investigation until last month, when a detective contacted her to request the same screenshots she submitted over the summer.
Nikki told Deadline that revisiting the images was an unwanted and unpleasant ordeal. She is also concerned that Kirwan has moved out of London and may now be out of the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police.
A Met Police spokesperson said: “The investigation into an allegation of cyberflashing remains ongoing and, while it does so, it would not be appropriate to discuss specific details. The victim who made the allegation is being kept updated with any progress. There have been no arrests and enquiries remain ongoing.
“At this time, there is only one allegation under investigation. If any further information comes to light in relation to this offending it will be assessed and investigated accordingly.
“As part of any investigation, where evidence such as images or video has been captured, we ask people to upload these to a secure system. In this instance, a link was sent to the victim in July 2024 with a request to upload images – for some reason these did not appear to upload so a further request was made. The upload of the images was successful and they form part of the investigation going forward.”
The Met declined to answer questions about why it took four months to re-request key evidence. Kirwan has not responded to questions about the police investigation. Since the allegations were published, he briefly set up an Instagram account promoting his work as a swing music singer.
Nikki, 25, first encountered Kirwan in 2022 and said she received unwanted attention from the showreel producer into 2024. In February, Kirwan sent her two images of an erect penis, the first of which features what appears to be the lower half of his face, according to evidence reviewed by Deadline.
“Ryan. WTF,” Nikki said when she saw the images. Kirwan claimed that he had deleted them from the chat, adding: “I was so drunk. I’m so sorry.” Nikki replied: “I honestly don’t know what to say to you. Like how do you think this is ok?!” Kirwan responded: “I won’t message you again. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable and I’m so so sorry. It was a dreadful drunken mistake and I can’t apologise enough.”
Kirwan built a successful showreel business amid the post-pandemic production frenzy. He boasted on social media about his work being featured on the BBC, while his Instagram page, where he had thousands of followers, gave shout-outs to clients who secured credits in Netflix’s Sex Education and Damsel.
