Sexual offences against children come before courts in Wales all too often. Some of the most depraved criminals have been subject to court orders but continue to offend over and over again.
Sexual harm prevention orders are used by courts to keep track of perpetrators of sexual crimes but these measure are still not enough to prevent further crimes for being committed. Here is a roundup of defendants who have breached court orders for sexual offences against children.
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Lee Mills
Lee Mills sent "vile" messages to a 12-year-old girl and asked if she wanted to meet up while using a computer at a public library. When asked why he sent the message and breached a court order he said he was "bored".
The 40-year-old was visited at his Cardiff home on July 14 after they received information he had been contacting a young girl. The defendant had attended Cardiff Central Library and used a computer to access a "team chat".
One of the messages sent by Mills to the girl read: "I know I'd touch you all over and I'd like to lick your young p****." Mills admitted he had communicated with someone he believed to be a child. The defendant, of Brithdir Street, Cathays, later pleaded guilty to attempting to communicate with a child and breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
The defendant's last previous conviction was in March 2020 for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, distribution of indecent images, and breach of a SHPO. He received a three-year jail term and was released from prison in January last year. For the new offence he was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court to 28 months imprisonment and was made subject to another SHPO indefinitely.
Steven Allen
"Entrenched paedophile" Steven Allen was found to have breached his sexual harm prevention order after social media applications were discovered on his mobile phone. A sexual harm prevention order was put in place against the defendant in 2018 for a period of 10 years.
But on August 17 this year police attended Quay House Hostel at the Strand in Swansea city centre where he was living. His phone was inspected and it was discovered that there were social media applications installed for Facebook and Facebook Messenger under his name contrary to one of the prohibitions that were part of the order made three years ago which stopped him from using, accessing, or creating an account for use on any social networking website or web chat facility.
The 43-year-old, originally from the Liverpool area, claimed that his offender manager had authorised his use of Facebook but quick inquiries proved it to be what Judge Huw Rees described as a "bare-faced lie". He was interviewed by police on August 29 and he accepted that he was in breach of the order.
Allen was jailed for 46 months at Swansea Crown Court. A deprivation order was made in regards to the mobile phone.
Shaun Smith
Convicted sex offender Shaun Smith failed failed to notify police he had an internet-enabled video games console. The ownership of the secret PlayStation was the second time Smith had breached a court order designed to control his contact with children.
Smith was sent to prison and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order in 2018 for sending what he thought was a young girl on Facebook a series of sexual messages and demands for explicit photographs. The court order was still in force when, in September last year, police carried out a routine monitoring visit to the defendant's house and spotted a PlayStation games console which was linked to the internet.
The SHPO was imposed in December 2018 after Smith sent "demanding and controlling" Facebook messages to someone he believed to be a schoolgirl and then tried to meet up with her at a local burger bar. In reality the Facebook account was being operated by an adult. During their online conversations Smith told what he thought was a 14-year-old girl that he was the same age as her father and "she was the sort of girl who could get a man into trouble".
With credit for his guilty plea Smith was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court to four months in prison for the PlayStation breach and the judge revoked the community order previously imposed for the phone breach and sentenced the defendant to two months consecutive for that matter bringing the total sentence to six months.
Luke James
Luke James showed a young girl a video on his phone of an animated singing penis. He met the girl's mum on a dating website and went to a park with the family but had not disclosed his previous conviction for sexually assaulting a teenager.
As part of the suspended sentence for that assault he was banned from having any contact with females under 16 unless their parent or guardian knows about his past. One of the daughters later told her mum James had shown her a video of "bums and willies" on his phone. Concerned at what had happened the woman searched for the defendant's name online and found out about his previous conviction.
With a discount for his guilty plea James was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court to six months in prison for breaching the SHPO and the judge activated 12 months of the previously-imposed suspended sentence to run consecutively making an overall sentence of 18 months in prison.
Nathan Denning
Nathan Denning attempted to ingratiate himself with children by asking them if they wanted to see his budgies. The convicted paedophile was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) for a number of offences including having sexual intercourse with underage girls and rape of an adult woman.
He was legally prohibited from having contact with children whose parents were unaware of his convictions but Denning would introduce himself to children playing in public and even took his pet budgies around with him in a cage so they could look at them. The sex offender's past was discovered by one of the children's mother who found an online article detailing his previous convictions and she called the police.
The woman's daughter was approached by Denning who asked if she wanted to see his budgies but when she asked her mother permission she was refused. The woman initially believed there was nothing sinister about the matter and thought the defendant was being friendly. He was also seen approaching other children while in possession of the budgie cage and on another occasion he allowed another child to ride his bike.
A judge at Cardiff Crown Court said there was no other reason for the defendant to speak to the children involved in the breach other than his "sexual interest in children." Denning was sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment.
Kingsley Perera
Former children's entertainer Kingsley Perera was unmasked as a paedophile and had strict restrictions on his internet usage but was caught with a secret phone. He was required to register any smartphone he owns with the authorities after being jailed for downloading thousands of images of child sexual abuse.
But despite being given a strong warning by a crown court late last year the 59-year-old was found by police hiding in a car with an undisclosed Huawei phone – a device he tried to conceal in a nearby shed when the officers turned their backs. The incident happened just weeks after he had been given a suspended prison sentence for moving house without telling the police.
Perera has been required to register any internet-enable phone with the police since being jailed for 10 months in December 2020 after being caught with almost 4,000 images of children being sexually abused and raped on his mobile phones – including more than 600 Category A photos which show the most extreme kind of abuse. He denied he was responsible for downloading the images and at trial sought to blame others who he said had acted out of spite or for their own sexual purposes.
With a discount for his guilty plea Perera was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court to 12 months in prison for breaching the SHPO and the judge activated three months of the previously-imposed suspended sentence to run consecutively making an overall sentence of 15 months in prison.
Mark Lenthall
Mark Lenthall travelled 250 miles to Wales with the intention of meeting up with a child for sex. The 53-year-old travelled from his home in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, to Caerphilly, on July 10 last year in order to meet up with someone he thought was a child.
But he had speaking to a decoy and was intercepted by detectives from the Tarian unit who conducted an intelligence-led operation to catch the sex offender. He pleaded guilty to attempting to arrange a meeting with an underage girl, attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to communicate with a child, attempting to cause a child to look at an image of someone engaging in sexual activity, and breach of a SHPO.
The court heard he had previous from 2017 including convictions for making and possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornography as well as engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 16. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO). The defendant was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court to an extended sentenced of 13 years of which he will serve eight years in custody.
Simon Dove
Simon Dove, who went on the run to the Costa del Sol and was tracked down to a Spanish prison, was given an extended sentence as a dangerous sex offender. After being brought back to Wales he as given a suspended sentence and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order designed to control his online behaviour.
But just weeks later he bought a laptop and started downloading images of child sex abuse and installing software designed to hide his activities. Sending the 51-year-old down a judge said he posed a high risk of causing sexual harm to children.
In September 2009 officers investigating the downloading of indecent images went to an address in Port Talbot looking for Dove. Present at the property was the daughter of the defendant's former partner and she handed over two of his computers. An examination of the drives found the presence of indecent images.
The following January police went to an address in London where Dove was staying and seized a number of electronic devices including a laptop. Again indecent images were found along with evidence the defendant had been communicating with fellow paedophiles on Yahoo Messenger and sharing pictures via peer-to-peer file sharing software.
The defendant came to the attention of Spanish police in July 2016 when officers raided a property on the Costa del Sol and seized computer equipment which contained 7,000 indecent images – some of them "of the very worst kind" showing young children being sexually tortured. Spanish police also found Dove had again been sharing the images with like-minded people through peer-to-peer software.
With one-quarter discounts for his guilty pleas Dove was made the subject of an extended sentence of four years and three months comprising two years and three months in custody followed by a two-year extended licence. He must serve two-thirds of the custodial element of the sentence before he can apply for release but it will be for the Parole Board to determine if he is safe to be let out. He will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years.
David Jones
David Jones lied to a probation worker about possessing phones and tablets which he used to access indecent images of children. The 36-year-old was discovered with category A and category B images of boys aged 12 to 16 being sexually abused by adults.
Police received intelligence that an IP address linked to the defendant's Cardiff home had been accessing indecent images and when they visited his house on November 26, 2020, he was found in possession of two phones, a tablet, and a portable hard drive which he had not disclosed.
Jones had been sentenced to a community order in 2017 after he admitted accessing child sex abuse videos and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) for five years. When asked why he had not notified his offender manager about the phone he said he "hadn't set it up properly" but had been meaning to contact probation.
Jones was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. He was also made subject to notification requirements and a new SHPO for a period of 10 years.
Anthony Coombes
Anthony Coombes was caught with internet-wiping software on his phone and an email account in a false name just months after walking out of court. He was on a suspended sentence at the time after being convicted of engaging in sexually explicit conversations with people he believed were 12 and 14-year-old girls, and was also subject to a sexual harm prevention order designed to control his online activities.
The 22-year-old was visited by police at his home in Pembroke and officers asked to see his electronic devices. The defendant handed over a Huawei mobile and the officer noticed it only had that day's internet history in the browser history. A detailed examination of the handset found the phone contained an app which had a data-erasing function and that Coombes had an email account in the name of "Bennypern".
The defendant is banned from erasing his internet history or using aliases when setting up an email account by a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO). In his subsequent interview the defendant said he didn’t know he was not allowed to delete his online history and said the cleaning app had came with the phone which he had bought second-hand. He accepted he had created the alias email address but said this was only for use on his Xbox games console.
The court heard that in October 2021 Coombes was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court to 12 months in prison suspended for two years for attempted sexual communication with a child, possessing indecent images of a child, and failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements. These offences had seen Coombes contacting what he believed were two girls aged 12 and 14 on a site called Chat Hour and engaging in sexual conversations with them before asking for intimate photographs.
Coombes was sentenced to eight months in prison for breaching the order while the judge activated 10 months of the previously-imposed suspended sentence to run consecutively making an overall sentence of 18 months in prison.
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