Locations
Leuchars Close, Low Fell, Gateshead, Northumbria, NE9
Description
A paedophile who kept his past a filthy secret from his new partner found himself "tempted" when left alone with her grandchildren.
Phillip Johnson was jailed in 2007 for ten counts of indecent assault on a girl aged under 14 and was subject to strict restrictions as part of his sex offender registration and a sexual harm prevention order.
But after starting a relationship with a woman he met on a computer course, he failed to tell her about his background, despite coming into contact with her three grandchildren, aged seven, 12 and 14.
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On one occasion, he ended up home alone with the older children and admitted his attraction to young girls left him tempted, although he didn't offend against them.
Now Johnson, 52, of Leuchars Close, Low Fell, Gateshead, has been locked up at Newcastle Crown Court for failing to comply with his notification requirements and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.
Thomas Parsons-Munn, prosecuting, said Johnson was jailed for two years at Preston Crown Court in 2007 for the sex attacks.
He was required to register any address at which he was resident for more than seven days and not to have contact with a child under 16 unless supervised by a person approved by social services.
Last year he met a woman doing a course at a job centre and in September he began staying over at her home, where her grandchildren would regularly visit.
Mr Parsons-Munn told Newcastle Crown Court: "The defendant regularly came into contact with the children.
"At no point did he make (the gran or the mum of the children) aware of his previous offending or the requirements imposed on him."
In November last year he ended up home alone with the 12 and 14-year-old for around 90 minutes.
As well as the convictions for indecent assault, Johnson has nine previous convictions for breaching the sexual harm prevention order and failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements.
Judge Julie Clemitson jailed him for two years and eight months and told him: "This was a persistent breach.
"You were in the company of children on multiple occasions and this risked very serious harm or distress.
"You found yourself on your own and you were tempted, as you candidly admitted, given your attraction to girls of that age.
"You remain a high risk of committing further sexual offences."
Andrew Findlay, defending, said: "The principle mitigation is the guilty plea he entered.
"Those who were undoubtedly harmed and distressed about finding out about his convictions will have been relieved there was no need for them to attend court.
"It's obvious he prioritised his own needs and put his relationship ahead of informing those who should have known about his convictions.
"He wanted a firmer foundation in the relationship before he revealed his convictions. It's dogged his efforts to form relationships in the past.
"It was a need for a relationship rather than a desire to have unsupervised contact with the children that drove him."
Mr Findlay said on the day he ended up having unsupervised contact it was because his partner was running late.