Coventry paedophile back behind bars after defying mobile phone internet ban - The Coventry Observer

Coventry paedophile back behind bars after defying mobile phone internet ban

Coventry Editorial 10th May, 2017 Updated: 10th May, 2017   0

A CONVICTED paedophile is back behind bars after repeatedly breaching a ban on having phones capable of acccessing the internet, imposed when he was jailed for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

Craig Sheen pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to breaching conditions of the Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) imposed by a judge at Coventry Crown Court in 2010.

Sheen (32) recently of Harnall Lane, Coventry, but previously from the Wood End area of the city, was jailed for 12 months and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.

Prosecutor Amy Jackson said that under the terms of the SOPO Sheen is prohibited from accessing internet networking sites including instant messaging systems.




He was also banned from having a computer capable of accessing the internet without making it available for inspection and from having an internet-enabled mobile phone.

But in January a north Warwickshire woman who had begun using the PlentyMoreFish dating site was contacted by Sheen through an app on his phone.


Because of allegations she made against him after they had met, which have not been pursued by the prosecution, Sheen was arrested – and his phone was seized.

Miss Jackson said that Sheen had ten convictions for 28 offences.

They included sexual offences against a 14-year-old girl he had met through Facebook, for which he was jailed for three-and-a-half years in 2010.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life and made subject to the SOPO for an indefinite period.

In 2013 he was back in court for twice breaching the order by having phones capable of accessing the internet.

Then in 2014 at Perth Sherriff Court in Scotland he was jailed for 16 months for a further breach of the order.

That court heard that he had moved to Perth, where he had been staying with a friend for more than a week, without notifying the police of his address.

That came to light when the police questioned him about another matter and found he was a registered sex offender, and he was also found to have a Blackberry phone capable of accessing the internet.

Daniel Oscroft, defending, said: “There are only two options, and the first is an immediate custodial sentence.

“But the second is the perhaps more creative option, to give the defendant a community order lasting three years, with the requirement that any breach be reserved to Your Honour.”

He conceded: “This defendant clearly has difficulty complying with the order. The breaches here are flagrant and in full knowledge of the powers the courts would bring into effect if they became aware of such breaches.”

He pointed out Sheen had already spent four months in custody on remand.

Jailing Sheen, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told him: “In 2010, for sexual activity with a child, you were sentenced to 42 months and made subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

“You breached that twice in 2013 by reason of having a mobile phone on two occasions, and you breached it again in 2014, resulting in a 16-month sentence.

“So this is your fourth breach of the order. You are assessed as someone who will cause sexual harm to others if you are not restrained in some way.

“The only way forward in your case is for there to be an immediate sentence of custody.”

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