law
A 25-year-old child sex offender has been jailed for three months after he admitted breaching a sexual offences prevention order when he registered to an on-line dating website using two fake names.
Scott Toothill was caught with a mobile phone with internet access – which he was banned from having – at an address in Glendarragh Park in Ederney on August 21 this year.
The court heard that Toothill, who is currently in custody in Maghaberry, is accused of inciting a child under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity in Derry Crown Court on May 23 last year.
At that time the sexual prevention order was also granted for indefinite and he was banned from having access to a computer including an iPad and iPhone which had access to the internet unless it is approved by the risk manager.
On April 24 2013 a risk manager said he could have a basic mobile phone with no camera or internet access.
However, a few months later on August 21 at approximately 11.45am, officers arrived at his address in Ederney to carry out an unannounced inspection of his home.
They checked his home and confirmed that there was no internet access. Toothill said he only had one phone and he showed the officers this phone and confirmed the number with them.
But while they were carrying out an inspection of his bedroom it was then that he admitted to having another phone which was kept in his wardrobe.
He took the phone from the wardrobe which was hidden by clothing items. The court heard that the phone had both a camera and internet access.
He told them that he had used the phone over the last three weeks and admitted that his risk manager did not know about the second phone. He was arrested for breaching the sexual offences prevention order.
During investigation of the phone it was discovered that he had registered with the dating website Plenty of Fish and had details of the site kept in a notebook. He said he was ‘totally aware’ of the order and that he was in breach of it.
He also told the officers that he was enjoying the dating website.
Follow-up investigations revealed that he was using pseudonym names of ‘Eddie’ and ‘David’. He was also using a fake female profile on social networking site Facebook but the court was told that he did not meet anyone face to face.
He was cautioned for the breach of the order and replied “OK”.
District Judge Nigel Broderick said that he had considered carefully the detailed probation report.
He said: “In the circumstances I am satisfied that the threshold has been crossed.
I will give you credit for your early plea. This was aggravated by the fact that the order was breached shortly after it was given.”
Toothill was given a three month prison sentence.
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