Paedophile used neighbour’s Wi-Fi
ACTIONS MEANT INNOCENT MAN WAS ARRESTED
AN innocent man was arrested after a neighbour used his internet connection to search for pictures of naked boys.
Robert Mawby convinced a neighbour in Paterson Close, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, to let him have his Wi-Fi password.
Between March and August he downloaded pictures and videos.
Mawby, 60, had been given a 24-week jail sentence for downloading indecent images of children in 2010.
In mid-August, police arrested the neighbour.
A few days later, on August 21, Mawby was arrested and fully exonerated his neighbour by admitting he downloaded the 476 images and 13 videos.
Mawby, who was charged with making indecent images and breaching his sexual harm prevention order, has been in custody since his arrest and told a sentencing hearing at Leicester Crown Court he could not return home because he was worried about being near his neighbour.
Phil Gibbs, prosecuting, told the court the breach of the sexual harm prevention order would usually lead to a jail sentence. He said: “This is a very serious breach, given the purpose of the order.”
By downloading child images, Mawby had breached the order by possessing a phone, a laptop and a hard drive police had not been informed about.
However, James Bide-Thomas, representing Mawby, said his client was not sent on a course after his previous offence.
“I would urge your honour to consider a three-year community order to give plenty of time to undertake that work,” he said.
Judge Brown told Mawby: “This clearly crosses the custody threshold and I would have given you 10 months.
“You’re 60, you need treatment and didn’t get it last time. You’ve pleaded guilty to all these matters and exonerated your neighbour.”
Mawby was given a three-year community order with 90 days of group work to tackle his offending and a further 30 days of working with probation one-to-one.
His sexual harm prevention order, which bans him from having devices the police are not aware of or not able to search, continues indefinitely.