‘High risk’ offender banned from unsupervised contact with girls

A “high risk” Dundee predator who had sex with an underage girl has been jailed.

Registered sex offender Mitchell Owen invited the “vulnerable” 15-year-old to his home in Charleston and told her it was a “house rule” she could not wear a top.

Owen, 25, knew the girl’s age but was driven by his “own emotional and sexual needs”, the court was told.

Repeat offender Owen, who has previous convictions for sexual offences involving young females, exchanged messages with the Angus teenager on Facebook before having sex with her on February 5.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard Owen is considered to be a “high risk” sex offender by police.

His solicitor, Jim Laverty, asked for him to be spared prison as he had pled guilty to avoid the vulnerable victim having to give evidence in court.

He said a rehabilitation programme would not be readily accessible in prison

However, Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown jailed Owen, of Charleston Drive, for 20 months and placed him on the sex offenders register for 10 years, saying: “I take into account your limited record, however, the offences you were previously convicted of were analogous.

“You were aware of the victim’s young age but you did not care because you were driven by your own emotional and sexual needs. A custodial sentence is inevitable.”

He was made subject to a fiveyear sexual offences prevention order, prohibiting him from unsupervised contact with females under 17, and banned from having more than one internet-connected device, to be submitted for police checks.