Scarborough sex offender spared prison after online sex chats breached order

Samuel Richard Thompson, 27, had been subject to notification requirements and a sexual-harm prevention order to curb his internet activities following his conviction for child sex offences in April 2018.

Under the terms of the order, Thompson, of West Park Terrace, Falsgrave Road, was banned from deleting his online data and was supposed to inform police if he used any aliases on internet chat sites and social media, York Crown Court heard.

But between July 2020 and February this year, he breached the orders on no less than 10 occasions.

Prosecutor Caroline Abrahams said that Thompson used an alias on Snapchat, the multimedia messaging site, and a pseudonym on the gaming platform No Mad without informing police.

He logged on to the Only Fans social-media site with a different username without informing the authorities.

He also went on the dating app Kik with a username in breach of the order and deleted the Tinder dating app from his mobile phone in contravention of the order.

He then went on to delete sex chats on the Whatsapp messaging service with a named female from his mobile phone.

Thompson erased another ‘chat thread’ from Whatsapp which purportedly involved a conversation with a prostitute from Hull.

There was no suggestion that any of these chats were with under-age children and there were no “improper” images found on Thompson’s phone.

He was charged with five breaches of a sexual-harm prevention order and five offences of failing to comply with notification requirements as a registered sex offender.

Thompson, of West Park Terrace, Falsgrave Road, admitted all 10 counts and appeared for sentence at the Crown Court knowing his liberty was in serious jeopardy.

The court heard that the orders had been imposed in April 2018 when Thompson received a two-year suspended prison sentence for sexual activity with a child and causing or inciting a minor to engage in sexual activity.

The breaches were discovered when Thompson’s police offender manager made an impromptu visit to his flat in Scarborough on February 17.

Thompson’s internet devices were seized including an iPhone on which he had used the aliases on social-media sites including the Whisper app.

Nick Peacock, for Thompson, said the Probation Service had recommended a “longer-term” alternative to “just locking this man up” which involved rehabilitation.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, agreed to go along with the Probation Service’s recommendation to spare Thompson jail and give him rehabilitative treatment instead, because he had admitted the offences, had been “straight” with the authorities following his arrest and had already served the equivalent of a six-month prison term on custodial remand.

Thompson was given an 18-month community order and ordered to engage in a rehabilitation programme.