Sex offender jailed for flouting child contact ban for 11th time

An Angus sex offender flouted a ban on contact with children for the 11th time as he felt it scuppered his chances of relationships with women.

David Powell, also known as David Hogg, was jailed for three years and 170 days after breaking his sexual offences prevention order (Sopo) by being in the company of a 14-month-old child at a property in Arbroath.

The child was a relative of a woman that 36-year-old Powell had been dating, who had no knowledge of his criminal past and ended the relationship when she found out.

Powell, a prisoner at HMP Perth, had the 20-year Sopo imposed after being convicted of carrying out a sex act in front of two nine-year-old girls in a Liverpool park in 2007.

His defence solicitor said: “He has drifted in and out of prison various times for beaching this order. It has fairly onerous conditions.

“He feels that when he is released he can’t have any sort of life.

“He can’t form relationships because he has to have the written consent of the chief constable to confirm that he has disclosed his convictions.

“Given his background it’s impossible for him to form relationships and he finds it impossible to live in the community.”

Powell had been at liberty for just over a month after a prison sentence for a previous breach of his order when the latest offence occurred, between October 1 and October 10 2019.

Jailing him, Sheriff Robert Dickson said: “You don’t seem to appreciate, or are deliberately ignoring, the terms that are there to protect children.”