JAIL FOR ‘DEVIOUS’ SEX PEST
Man asked friend to hide phone when police visited his home
‘DEVIOUS’ sex offender Robert Alexander apologised to a court before he was jailed for failing to tell police he was using a mobile phone.
The 23-year-old – described as an ‘online predator’ – asked a friend to take his Samsung mobile when an offender manager visited him.
But the phone was later recovered and it showed he had been using the internet for ‘some time’.
Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard Alexander was handed a suspended jail sentence in 2018 for two offences of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and two charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
As well as the suspended sentence, he was made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
The order means he is banned from using a device capable of accessing the internet unless he notifies the police within three days of owning it, and he is prohibited from possessing a device capable of storing digital images unless he makes it available on request for inspection.
Prosecutor Daniel Oscroft said police visited Alexander on May 18 and asked him what devices he had. He told them he had a black basic phone and no others. Mr Oscroft said: “The offender manager made a further visit on July 7. It took 10 minutes for the defendant to answer the door.
“A woman left when asked to do so by the defendant. He was asked to make available any internet-enabled devices for inspection. He made a number of excuses.
“The woman was later spoken to and she said the defendant handed her a phone when the police were outside and she put it in her pocket and left. She gave the offender manager a Samsung mobile.”
Alexander told police he found his old Samsung phone in February 2020. He said he first used it on May 1 and continued to use it until it was taken by the police. Alexander, of West Street, Leek, pleaded guilty to breaching a SHPO.
Paul Cliff, mitigating, said Alexander resisted thetemptation to use the phone until May 1. He added: “The phone was analysed by the police and there is nothing between May 1 and July 7 which suggests the phone was used for a sinister purpose. The phone has been returned to him.
“In May 2020 he was physically isolated. He accepts he used the phone in order to enable some social contact with people known to him. He accepts he is in breach of the order by doing that. He recognises it was inappropriate and he instructs me to apologise.”
Jailing Alexander for eight months, Judge Paul Glenn said he had been fortunate not to be sent to prison in 2018.
He said: “You were completely devious with the police.”
The judge added: “You are an intelligent young man. You know the prohibitions you are subjected to. This is the second breach.
“It is a persistent breach and is a deliberate breach of an order made to protect the public.
“There is no evidence your breach caused any harm or distress but there was plainly a risk that it would do so. It is so serious it must be marked with a custodial sentence.”