Darren McGuinness 50

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A CONVICTED sex offender gained access to children by volunteering to play Santa at a Carlisle community church's Christmas party.

Darren McGuinness, 48, who has a previous conviction for downloading images depicting the sexual abuse of children, also helped to organise a family Halloween party at the church hall.

At Carlisles Rickergate Magistrates Court, McGuinness, of Fairfield Gardens, Carlisle, pleaded guilty to two allegations of breaching a sexual harm prevention order: one offence was committed on October 30 last year and the other on December 18 last year.

Prosecutor Malcolm Isherwood said the defendants offences were a breach of an order made in May of 2011 which was meant to prevent him from having unsupervised access to any child.

The sentence was part of his punishment for multiple offences of downloading child sex abuse images.

The wording of the first charge stated: On Saturday, December 18, at Carlisle in the county of Cumbria, without reasonable excuse, [the defendant] did something, namely dressed up as Santa and handed out gifts to children inside a makeshift grotto at the Church Christmas party.

At the time, said the charge, the defendant was aware this would bring him into contact with children that he was prohibited from doing this under the terms of the court order.

The second charge states that he breached his court order by helping to organise and by attending a family Halloween party on October 30.

As with the first charge, he was fully aware that children aged under 16 would be present at the party and that this was something he was prohibited from doing, the court heard.

Mr Isherwood told the court: In the view of the crown, the defendant deliberately placed himself in a situation whereby he was going to come into contact with children under the age specified in the [court] order.

He did so by attending a church and, while there, volunteering to work in the community kitchen without disclosing his conviction.

He then offered to organise a family Halloween party at the church in October last year and in December he helped to organise and run a family Christmas party.

"This included him playing the role of Santa in a grotto. Both of these activities would clearly bring him into contact with children.

Having heard those facts, District Judge John Temperley said that he believed the courts sentencing powers were not sufficient and therefore the sentencing hearing should be at Carlisle Crown Court.

You will get credit for your guilty pleas, the judge told McGuinness.

The judge adjourned that hearing until May 13, when the defendant will be dealt with by a circuit judge at Carlisle Crown Court. In the meantime, the defendant was granted bail.

Records show that the defendant has previously breached his sexual harm prevention order a number of times.

In 2016, the News & Star reported that the defendant flouted his sexual harm prevention order by accessing the internet through his mobile phone when it had no police monitoring software.

In 2020, the defendant was again before a court for breaching his order. He had been allowed to use a computer when he attended a unemployed persons support group in Carlisle city centre.

The order was part of a sentence imposed for 11 offences of possessing child abuse images. After his last conviction for breaching the order, his defence lawyer told the court: He used the computer for entirely innocent purposes.

The lawyer said the defendant, who was planning a caravan holiday in Blackpool for his birthday, had been unable to get work because as soon as he discloses his previous convictions" potential employers show that they are not willing to consider employing him.