Pervert paid visit to mum with a baby
A PERVERT who was twice caught by paedophile hunters chatting to underage ‘girls’ online breached a court order by visiting his partner in Scotland.
Daniel Smith was subject to a sexual harm prevention order and on the sex offenders’ register after being snared by Dark Justice and Guardians of the North sending sleazy messages to what he thought were two youngsters on social networking sites.
However, both profiles were decoys set up by the vigilante groups and the 23-year-old was arrested.
Smith was forbidden from having any contact with children under the age of 16 as result of the orders, which were imposed in 2018.
Newcastle Crown Court was told that, despite this, Smith confessed during a conversation with his risk management officer in March that he was in contact with a 36-year-old woman living in Ayrshire.
The woman, who had a young baby, was spoken to by police in Scotland and said she knew nothing about Smith’s convictions.
She admitted Smith, who she met on the social media site Badoo, had stayed at her home north of the border, where she lives with the child.
Smith, of Chichester Road, South Shields, South Tyneside, admitted two offences of breaching of a sexual harm prevention order and one of failing to comply with notification requirements.
The court heard he has spent two months in custody since his arrest.
He received a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Paul Caulfield, defending, said Smith was “extremely vulnerable and immature” and had found his time in custody “extremely difficult.”