Description
Parents were horrified to discover a convicted sex offender had been having sinister contact with their children.
Daniel Sloan sought to ingratiate himself with youngsters, who thought he was being kind by buying doughnuts, showing off his double joints and telling them he did gymnastics. But in reality he was a paedophile with a disturbing sexual interest in children.
In April 2018 Sloan was jailed for three years for attempted grooming and inciting sexual activity of a child and he was given a sexual harm prevention order which banned him from having or seeking contact with a child unless their parent knew of his conviction, allowed such contact and it was supervised.
Having been released, Sloan had already breached the order when he went on to have prohibited contact with children in Hebburn. A mum of a ten-year-old girl noticed him watching the children playing on a grass verge and she also saw him speaking to one of the children.
One evening in June, the mother returned home to find her daughter playing in her friend's front garden and Sloan was speaking to them over a garden fence. The woman took her child inside and asked what he had been saying. She replied that he had been "really kind", showing them his double joints and how he could go cock-eyed.
Christopher Rose, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court : "She said he had held a ruler above his head and her friend was trying to jump up for it. Her friend had taken off her shoe and soiled her feet and the defendant suggested she have a shower.
"The mum asked her daughter his name and when told she Googled him. She was shocked and alarmed at what she found out and informed other parents and the police."
The mum said in a victim impact statement: "I felt sick to the stomach at the thought of anything else happening to the children. I wish I had found out earlier, this has caused me distress, worry and anxiety."
A dad of a younger girl also saw Sloan talking to her. Mr Rose said: "On one occasion, he looked out of the upstairs window and noticed his daughter was not in the garden, where she should have been. He was concerned and went downstairs and saw his daughter step out of the defendant's front door. This happened on more than one occasion.
"The defendant denied any child had entered his house but the witness is adamant he saw his daughter exit the door of the defendant's flat."
The court heard Sloan had also bought the girl doughnuts and she was holding some as she came out of his door standing next to the pervert.
In June the man was in his home with his windows open when he heard Sloan talking to his daughter outside, telling her he did gymnastics and asking if she did. He also said to her: "I've got you more doughnuts, the ones you like, not jam".
The concerned dad was then shown a news report about Sloan's previous offending. Police were called and Sloan complained he no longer felt safe as people had found out about his past. He then resisted arrest.
The dad said: "She keeps waking up through the night having nightmares asking if he is coming back to get her and keeps crying in her sleep and is frightened of being in a room by herself and frightened to play outside.
"School have expressed concerns she has been drawing pictures of violent scenes showing Daniel Sloan with a knife and blood. She now knows what a paedophile is. He has ruined her innocence."
Sloan, 35, of no fixed address, whose previous convictions include two indecent assaults from 2005, the attempted grooming and inciting sexual activity offences from 2018 and two breaches of the sexual harm prevention order from 2020, pleaded guilty to breaching the sexual harm prevention order and resisting arrest.
Jailing him for 32 months, Recorder Tom Moran said he poses a very high risk and added: "The only sensible conclusion is you are unable to control your sexual attraction to children. This was not innocent, inadvertent or fleeting, it was clearly a lot more sinister than that . You were trying to ingratiate yourself with them."
Jamie Adams, defending, said: "He is not a man without intelligence and he is aware of the wrongfulness of this behaviour. He felt he had been doing well in the accommodation he was in.
"He feels he has got a label around his neck saying sex offender which makes it very difficult for him to think he can engage in a normal way in society with people around him."