Description
A paedophile who has repeatedly threatened to rape women and children is set to be released next month.
Jay Ferguson put together a sinister 'rape kit' and threatened to abduct and rape a child in 2017, when aged just 18.
He was locked up for 22 months, but within days of his release told police he had a child sex abuse video and a knife.
The 22-year-old, of Liverpool Road, Huyton, received a 14-month sentence in 2020, to be served at HMP Styal.
While there he wrote to prison officers saying he intended to carry out a "violent rape" using the dating app Tinder when released.
He was then hit with a further six months behind bars after writing to a female guard to say he would hunt her down and rape her.
Ferguson was moved to a different prison and eventually released on February 26 this year.
But within "two or three days" he breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and was arrested again on March 1.
Michael Stephenson, prosecuting, said Ferguson's phone revealed he had accessed two "female only dating websites" - Zoe and Only Women.
Liverpool Crown Court heard he also breached the order by using Facebook Messenger to contact his adult niece.
Mr Stephenson said: "It was a discussion about money, nothing more sinister than that."
Ferguson admitted two breaches of his SHPO at a hearing in March and has since spent four months on remand in custody.
His criminal record includes assault and possessing a knife in public in 2015, when he was still a youth.
In November 2017 he admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and five counts of malicious communications.
That was after he put together a chilling kit, containing a balaclava and gloves, and told police he would abduct and rape a child.
Ferguson said he got the idea from a "psycho" on the TV show Law & Order, and showed officers a teddy, explaining: "I hurt the teddy so I don't hurt kids."
He had been arrested after making rape threats to teenagers, children and one 15-year-old victim's mum.
Ferguson said he was aware sexual activity with children was wrong but "just wanted to do it", "couldn't help" himself, had every intention of carrying out his "fantasies" at the earliest opportunity, and as soon as he was left to live on his own "would abduct and rape a child".
Police also found a letter in which Ferguson said he was planning to rape someone, with a step by step numbered to-do list.
When released in August 2019, Ferguson moved back to Huyton, but within days rang police to say a man had sent him indecent images of children.
Officers discovered he had encouraged the man to send videos, chatted about abusing children, and they exchanged videos of themselves performing sex acts.
Ferguson, who claimed he was acting as a 'paedophile hunter', had a clip of a girl aged between eight and 10 performing a sex act.
He was released on bail, but later walked into Huyton Police Station and said he had a knife because he had been sexually assaulted.
Ferguson was convicted of possessing an indecent image and having a blade in January 2020, when prosecutors revealed the letters "indicating his intention to carry out a violent rape on his release" by using Tinder.
Last August he was convicted of malicious communications, in respect of a letter sent on February 6, 2020.
Mr Stephenson today said that involved threats to a female officer at Styal "to track them and tie them up and attack them with a rape kit".
Ferguson was given a two-year restraining order, which banned him from Styal and from contacting his victim.
Gerald Baxter, defending, today said the breaches caused "little or no harm or distress" because Ferguson hadn't contacted anyone or arranged a date on the apps and had talked to his niece about money.
He said: "He had a difficult childhood to say the least. There is a history of personality disorder."
Mr Baxter urged the judge to spare him jail and said a place was available at a hostel in Birmingham, where Ferguson is from originally, which had a "strict regime" including a curfew.
He said treatment would be available "which the defendant is anxious to take advantage of" including for drug and alcohol misuse.
The lawyer said Ferguson also intended to refer himself to a nearby hospital for mental health treatment.
Judge David Potter asked how he should "square" that with risks identified in a pre-sentence report and psychiatric report.
Mr Baxter suggested if Ferguson accessed the treatment "perhaps there is a real prospect that the risk might be reduced".
Judge Potter said it was a "deliberate" and "flagrant" breach of the SHPO on two occasions within days of his released from jail.
He highlighted Ferguson's criminal record, past disclosures regarding his intentions and "rape threats towards a female prison officer".
The judge said Ferguson was assessed by the Probation Service as a "very high risk" of reconviction and causing serious harm.
Judge Potter said he was also subject to "multi agency public protection arrangements".
He said: "You are assessed by them as a very high risk of causing serious harm to children, the public and staff that you come into contact with."
The judge said: "I accept you have made some efforts to tackle some of the underlying issues in your psychological make up."
However, he also noted Ferguson's behaviour when previously given a place at Adelaide House in Kensington.
Jailing him for 10 months, Judge Potter said: "The court has sadly no confidence that you, whether in approved premises or not, will not commit further breaches."
However, due to the four months he has spent in custody, this means Ferguson will be released in around a month's time.