Colin Garrod 63

Description

A dangerous Derby sex offender asked an underage girl if he could buy her bras and knickers knowing full well he was not allowed unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16. Derby Crown Court head how Colin Garrod also gave her money and found a way of making the messages he sent to her phone disappear so what he was doing would not be discovered.

But one day her mother found him in her daughter's company, unaware of his previous child sex offences, or that there was an order in place forbidding him from any contact with children under 16. And after that, the mum discovered how the defendant would send her daughter messages before she went to school saying he would "do anything for her" if she "gave him a hug".

Jailing Garrod for 20 months, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: "You are 62-years-of-age, you are 63 next month and you were handed a sexual harm prevention order because you pleaded guilty to serious offences and you were sent to prison. You came out of prison and you didn't commit any further offences for quite a while and managed to stay out of trouble.

"But then, in July last year, you breached it in a significant way which involved you gaining the confidence of an underage girl and what is clear is that you made a determined effort to make sure you had some kind of relationship with this girl, unsupervised, knowing full well you should have told someone. You cannot be doing what you were doing with any girl under the age of 16, without telling people about the order."

Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said the defendant was handed a sexual harm prevention order in 2017 when the he was jailed for 14 months for offences of sexual assault, distribution and possession of indecent images of children and voyeurism.

He said the victim's mother was unaware of either the order or his previous convictions and one day in July 2022 found him alone with her underage daughter. The prosecutor said: "She discovered that her daughter had been in contact with the defendant by phone and texts.

"She discovered the defendant would contact her before school saying he would do anything for her if she would give him a hug and saying he loved her. He asked if he could buy her bras and knickers, bought her a phone charger and would give her money.

"He also activated on her phone (an app or method which would lead to) disappearing messages so people could not see the contact they were having. It was discovered that on one occasion he took her to a shop and when she asked if someone else could come with them he said 'no' and that he would only allow her to come with him.

"He was arrested and explained that he was helping the young girl. He said he knew the risk of breaching the order and he said the comments about being in love with her were 'a joke' as was him saying he would do anything for her if she hugged him."

Garrod, of Wilson Street, pleaded guilty to breaching the terms of his sexual harm prevention order and appeared in court via a video-link from HMP Nottingham. Katie Hodgkinson, his barrister, said her client had admitted his breach at the very first opportunity.

She said: "There was contact between them, there was no physical contact and no other allegations were made. He wanted to help somebody, not harm somebody and he knows he did not tell people about his previous convictions out of shame and stigma.

"He had a compulsion and a desire to assist."

As well as the jail sentence, the sexual harm prevention order remains in place.