Description
A green-haired sex offender who spoke to girls as young as 10 years old about wrestling and films, breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, was spared jail after a court heard he is gay and 'has no interest in females'.
Jake Paradise, from Bagshot, Surrey, had used Facebook and WhatsApp messenger to speak to the girls, who were both known to him, without their parents being aware of his serious previous convictions from 2015.
The 28-year-old had been banned from speaking to any child when he was slapped with a court order in 2016 because of his past offending, which a court heard was in relation to boy victims.
Despite knowing the requirements of the order, Paradise had spoken to a 12-year-old girl for at least 25 days from June 15 2017 and then further to a 10-year-old girl from April 1 2018.
Sophie Murray, prosecuting, said: 'It was put forward by the prosecution that the case was category-A due to the persistent nature of the communications.
'I understand that on the last occasion they [the communications] were gone through in some detail, nothing sexual in nature seems to have been communicated, they are in relation to wrestling, films, things of that sort.
'The parents of both girls were not aware of his previous convictions at the time he was communicating with them. He has said he is homosexual and has no interest in females and his previous convictions relate to boys rather than girls.'
Paradise, who had sported green hair on the last occasion he appeared in Reading Crown Court, had admitted two counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and appeared for sentence.
The author of a pre-sentence report had recommended that he be spared jail, a lawyer defending him said, as long as he completes a programme which helps sex offenders stop committing new crimes.
Judge Paul Dugdale, sitting at Reading Crown Court, said: 'I get a sense of these things when I read the texts and I may be wrong, but I do not get the impression that there was anything in this context that was of a sexual nature or was intended to be so.
'As Mr Paradise has pointed out, it is not the sort of contact he would have.'
Paradise, who wore fingerless fishnet gloves and a blue hoodie, the hair on his scalp died blond but at the end of his long, pony-tailed hair the colour changed into a streak of light blue.
The judge told him: 'I think now you know how serious these orders are and the real risk here is that if there had been any suggestion that this contact was anything other than perhaps a foolish error of judgement and that there was anything sexual in it at all, if there was any suggestion of anything else, you would have been going straight inside. You really need to understand that.'
Judge Dugdale sentenced Paradise, of Bagshot Green, Bagshot, Surrey, to a 30-month community order with one rehabilitation activity requirement, which meant the defendant would have to complete 30 days of the Horizon programme.