Rapist found breaching order after ‘phone buzzed on settee’
Unregistered mobile was hidden from police
CHILD rapist Emlyn Francis is back behind bars after he breached a court order.
The 65-year-old used a mobile phone capable of accessing the internet without notifying the police.
He was banned from doing so by a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) he received in 2013 for two offences of raping a child under 13 and seven charges of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Police visited his home unannounced on January 19 and requested he provided his digital devices.
He gave them three and said he had no others. But a phone began buzzing on the settee where he was sitting.
He admitted he’d had the phone for 18 months.
Now Francis has been jailed for 16 months at Stoke-on-trent Crown Court.
Prosecutor Ben Lawrence said Francis is a convicted sex offender.
He was dealt with for three offences of indecent assault and indecency with a child in 2001 and he was jailed for 10 years for raping a child under 13 and seven offences of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Mr Lawrence told the court that when police visited where the defendant was living, he was asked to give up his digital devices and handed over three registered ones.
But an unregistered phone was discovered when it started buzzing. Francis had tried to conceal it in his waistband.
Mr Lawrence said: “It was examined. There was evidence he had deleted part of his internet history, he had been on three social media dating sites and there was a photo of a mother and her young child.”
Francis, of John Street, Leek, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders’ register and three offences of breaching a SHPO.
Robert Holt, mitigating, said Francis had complied on his release from prison with the terms and conditions of his licence.
He added: “It was not the case it was a breach shortly after the order was made.
“There is no history of disobedience of court orders. He has made full and frank admissions.”
Judge David Fletcher told Francis: “You were convicted in 2013 of some very serious offences of a sexual nature. “This was a persistent breach. The aggravating feature is your previous convictions.”
The SHPO remains in place for the rest of Francis’s life. The judge ordered the destruction of the phone.