Description
A prolific sex offender, who has a long history of abusing young boys and girls, is back in prison after giving lifts to a three-year-old girl.
Lee Archer, 59, was living in the community under a sexual harm prevention order, when he befriended a grandmother who visited his sheltered accommodation in Stockton to visit her brother.
Teesside Crown Court heard that Archer and the woman got to know each other further and at one point told her he "hated children". Within months, he was visiting her at her home and did jobs for her.
The court heard that the woman's brother had agreed to give Archer 800 so he could buy a car. The brother would tax and insure it, and Archer would give him lifts to wherever he wanted to go.
But by September 2022, Archer was driving the grandmother, her brother and her three-year-old grandchild to Morrisons on Teesside Park. The court heard that he saw the child on four occasions, and played catch with her.
Police visited the woman in December and told her that Archer is a sex offender. His licence conditions ban him from contacting or communicating with any child under the age of 16.
Ms Haigh said that the woman was "shocked, and angry with herself for putting her granddaughter at risk."
Archer pleaded guilty to breaching his sexual harm prevention order. He started sexually abusing children in 1989. In 2011, he was jailed for sexual activity with a young girl and indecently assaulting a boy.
By 2016, Archer had sexually assaulted another boy, who was under 13. He was jailed for a further two years in 2020, for breaching his sexual harm prevention order. On that occasion he had befriended a family he met at his allotment. He said that their daughter was a "little heartbreaker" and the police found photos of her on his phone, which he had taken from Facebook.
In mitigation, the court heard that Archer had not known initially that the woman would bring her granddaughter with her for a lift. He said that he was never left unsupervised with the child.
Judge Timothy Stead told him: "It's quite clear that you are an incorrigible sex offender towards children. You befriended a woman - if she'd known about your past, I doubt she would have given you the time of day, let alone befriended you. These breaches created a risk of very serious harm."
Archer was jailed for two-years-and-eight-months.