Locations
Ings Road, Hull, East Riding Of Yorkshire, HU8
Description
A convicted sex offender who posed a "very significant risk to children" was found to have a 10-year-old boy living in his house in blatant breach of a court order.
When the authorities visited Francis Dawson's house after a tip-off they found him home alone with the boy who was in the kitchen. Dawson had a lifelong ban on having children in his house after a series of sex offences against boys and girls.
Hull Crown Court heard Dawson was "ultimately responsible" for ensuring that he did not flout the order but he brazenly ignored it even though he knew the consequences after being previously jailed for the original offences. Police and social services intervened to get the boy removed for his own safety but he was found living there again with his mother just two days later, the court heard.
Stephen Welch, prosecuting, said that Dawson was jailed in 2008 after being convicted of a series of sexual offences against male and female children. He had been given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order restricting him living in the same household as children under 18 or arranging contact with them.
But a woman and her 10-year-old son began living with Dawson and his wife on May 12 as a favour to them but in breach of the order. Social services and police became aware of the matter a fortnight later. The boy was found in the kitchen of the house in Ings Road, east Hull getting some food while his mother was out at work.
They were moved into accommodation provided by social services. But on May 27, police were contacted by social services to say that the mother and her son were missing from the hotel where they had been staying.
Dawson's address was checked by police and the door was answered by the missing woman. The boy was there doing school work on a tablet computer. Dawson was arrested because, as a registered sex offender, he was not allowed access to children. "Having been removed, the mother and child returned there a couple of days later," said Mr Welch.
Dale Brook, mitigating, said that Dawson's wife had been keen to help others by providing somewhere for the mother and son to leave but it was his responsibility to make sure that he followed the court order.
"He is ultimately responsible for ensuring that he complied with the order," said Mr Brook. "It's no excuse. He turned a blind eye to it but he knows there is an order and he knows there is a child in the house. He has been imprisoned as a result of it."
The sexual offences conviction related to matters many years ago. "There has been no offending in the intervening years of a sexual nature," said Mr Brook.
Judge John Thackray QC told Dawson: "You do not accept responsibility for your offending behaviour. You said the situation was out of your control and you had no influence on the outcome. I don't accept that. You represent a very significant risk to children and you breached the order and the notification requirement, placing that 10-year-old child at risk of sexual harm. There is no actual harm.
"You were well aware of your requirements and that the onus was upon you to make sure that you did not reside with a child. I am not satisfied that your risk can be managed in the community and I am not satisfied that you can be rehabilitated in the community. My priority here is to protect the public."
Dawson, 61, admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order between May 12 and 27 and failing to comply with his notification requirements as a sex offender. Dawson, who had been in custody on remand, was jailed for one year.