Locations
Sackville Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN14
Description
A paedophile Jack Bauer fan who had counter terrorism unit-style badges and followed children around in a car fitted with flashing blue lights has walked free from court.
Spencer Pledge had stab vests, handcuffs and badges despite being banned from owning anything which could make him look like a police officer.
The bin man was jailed in 2013 for 34 months after he followed young girls around in the car, filming them and himself.
Pledge, of Sackville Road, Broadwater, Worthing, admitted 18 offences including sexual activity in the presence of children and possessing hundreds of indecent images of children.
The 46-year-old had videos of himself carrying out indecent acts with girls in the background.
Police also found hundreds of indecent images of young children Pledge downloaded from the internet.
He admitted four offences of sexual activity in the presence of ten to 12-year-old girls, eight offences of making indecent photographs of children, five offences of having more than 900 indecent photographs of children and one offence of outraging public decency in the presence of three ten-year old children and two adult women.
As part of his sentence, Pledge was banned from having any emergency services kit.
Pledge was required to sign the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely on his release from prison.
He was also given an indefinite sexual offenders prevention order, later changed to the Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
The order had nine conditions intended to prevent Pledge from having any access to children and to prevent any further offences being committed when he was released from prison.
But after his release, a search of his home found two stab vests, handcuffs, a radio and police insignias.
One of the stab vests had the Sussex Police crest and ID sewn into the inside.
He was arrested and at a trial at Lewes Crown Court Pledge told a jury he was a big fan of American crime drama 24 and had the Jack Bauer badges as part of his memorabilia collection.
The sex offender claimed he needed the stab vests when he was pretending to be police for an Airsoft game, a type of paintball.
Jack Bauer, the character made famous by Kiefer Sutherland, is a fictional US counter terrorism officer.
Pledge breached Sexual Harm Prevention Orders barring him from having a camera in a vehicle and having police uniform.
When officers examined his phones during a routine home visit in 2019, they found an image of Pledge taken inside his bin lorry.
A further search uncovered the stab vests and other gear.
After he was jailed in 2013, Sussex Police Detective Constable Lindsey Van-Buiten said: “Pledge had acted in a most offensive and distressing way towards these young girls, who were very shaken by their experience.
“Some didn’t know quite how report it at the time but they and their families have given their full co-operation to this inquiry.
“Pledge’s offending was made even worse by his videoing of some of his acts and also by, separately, downloading indecent images of children from the internet, all for his own gratification.
“There is no evidence that he physically assaulted any children but we are relieved that his offending has been brought to a close.”
Following his conviction for breaching his SHPO, a spokesman for Sussex Police said: "Spencer Pledge is a committed offender, whose pattern of behaviour was spotted thanks to the vigilance of our officers in conducting random checks of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
"Sexual Harm Prevention Orders are aimed at limiting an offender's ability to cause harm and this is a prime example of their enforcement.
"Alongside our partner agencies will continue to use all tools at our disposal to catch perpetrators of sexual offences, put measures in place to limit their offending outside of the criminal justice system and respond swiftly to any breaches of these restrictions."
The jury found Pledge guilty of breaching the SHPO by having a camera in a vehicle and possessing police uniform.
Judge Stephen Mooney jailed Pledge for two years, suspended for two years and ordered him to do 200 hours unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation days.