Roman Fletcher 23

Description

A paedophile referee turned up to children's football matches and started running the line and giving offside decisions.

Roman Fletcher has a history of grooming youngsters and is subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

The 21-year-old, formerly known as Peter Burns, was previously locked up for using his role as a wrestling referee to target victims.

But he then started using his training as a football official to get closer to children - only to be spotted by an eagle-eyed coach.

Liverpool Crown Court heard FA coach Natalie Pinnington coaches a girls under 14 team, Brookvale United, in the Warrington area.

Cheryl Mottram, prosecuting, said Ms Pinnington worked with Fletcher, of Halton Road, Runcorn, when he was 14 or 15, because he refereed games she was involved in.

However, she hadn't seen him for a number of years and knew he wasn't allowed to work with children and that she should contact the FA if she saw him at youth football pitches.

On September 26 last year, while coaching at Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub in Warrington, she spotted a man with a Sports Direct carrier bag.

Ms Mottram said: "Ms Pinnington had thought he was either the referee or an assistant of some sort, as he had stood about the side of the pitch and at one point, he gave a decision on an offside."

Ms Pinnington saw the man talking to a fan aged around six, then playing football with a group of youths aged around 10 to 12, before she was told it was Peter Burns.

On October 10, Fletcher returned to the hub and was spotted by Ms Pinnington at the side of the pitch.

Fletcher was told to leave and wait outside, which he did, but at the end of the game he came back and went in goal while playing football with a group of children aged between eight and 13.

The court heard Ms Pinnington took a photo of him on her phone and contacted the FA.

Ms Mottram said Fletcher returned to the hub again on November 7, when he played football with boys aged between nine and 12. This time Ms Pinnington called the police and Fletcher fled.

When arrested and interviewed, he accepted breaching his order but "stated he had no intention of causing any child sexual harm".

Fletcher admitted three breaches of his SHPO.

In 2017, Fletcher was given a youth referral order for four offences of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, relating to one boy and three girls.

In 2019, he was locked up for 12 months for one offence of the same charge, relating to a boy, when he was hit with the SHPO.

Ms Mottram said: "Those offences involve this defendant engaging with children under 13, around 11 or 12, in fact under the guise of wrestling and inviting them to perform wrestling moves with him, to the extent of sitting on his face during the wrestling moves. That is the modus operandi for all of those offences."

Recorder Ian Harris said police examined Fletcher's phone in November and found texts in which he told a friend if police found out he was attending children's football matches, "he was going to go anyway".

The judge said in a "contradictory" pre-sentence report Fletcher said he wasn't blaming his diagnosis of autism for the offences, but also denied any sexual attraction to children.

Recorder Harris said a probation officer found his account "implausible" as he has "a history of grooming behaviour towards children".

Jeremy Rawson, defending, asked the judge to bear in mind his client's autism and "pathological demand and avoidance syndrome".

Mr Rawson said: "He suffered significant bullying whilst he was a young boy, to such an extent he has difficulty in relating to those of his own age."

The lawyer said Fletcher was "football obsessed" and when he came out of prison, tried to join an FA scheme called Man v Fat, set up to help people with weight issues.

But the FA found out about his convictions and barred him from the scheme, so he was "left very much at a dead end as far as football was concerned".

Mr Rawson said Fletcher, who lost a job because of physical issues, expressed "regret and remorse".

Recorder Harris said Fletcher "attended a children's football pitch and seemed at least on one occasion to be helping to referee", but was spotted by Ms Pinnington.

He said: "On October 10 she actually approached you. You said you were helping to run the line."

The judge said Ms Pinnington later called the police, adding: "She is to be commended for her behaviour."

He told Fletcher: "It's a persistent breach that may, and in my judgement would, have led to harm."

Recorder Harris said the pervert's criminal record and latest offences showed a continuing "sexual attraction and infatuation with children".

Jailing him for 16 months, Recorder Harris found Fletcher's mental state and diagnoses didn't affect his culpability.

He said: "You were cunning and deceptive in your actions when you breached the order on those three occasions and you knew full well what you were doing.

"I have no doubt a future form of paedophile offending would have occurred."