Locations
Market Street, Rhosllanerchrugog, Wrexham, LL14
Description
A serial paedophile breached a court order which prevented him from deleting his internet history. Stephen Harris, 47, of Wrexham, has repeatedly been caught in possession of images of child abuse.
After breaching his court order, he tried to lie to police by claiming he had unintentionally deleted internet history when he removed a storage card. Harris has numerous convictions for possession and distributing indecent images of children dating back as far as 2007 for which he was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
He was convicted of similar offences in 2011, 2015, and 2017. He also breached a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) he was made subject to in 2020, 2021, and 2022, reports WalesOnline.
A sentencing hearing at Caernarfon Crown Court on Thursday heard a police officer initially attended the defendant's home in Market Street, Rhosllanerchrugog, on May 17, to check a Nokia phone in his possession. The phone was shown to retain internet history and there were a number of text messages on the device.
But when the officer returned for an unannounced visit on June 28 she noticed the same phone only contained two messages and there was no internet history. Prosecutor Karl Scholz said when Harris was queried about this he claimed he "always" deleted his text messages and there was no internet history on the device.
The officer knew this to be a lie due to her previous analysis of the phone. The defendant was arrested and told police he unintentionally deleted the internet history by removing a storage card from his phone which he used to download music.
When asked why he didn't tell the officer about this he said: "I just carried on." Harris later pleaded guilty to breach of a sexual harm prevention order.
The court heard he had a total of eight convictions and as a result of the current offence he is in breach of a suspended sentence of eight weeks. In mitigation Henry Hills said there was a "technical issue" with his client's phone and while the deletion of internet history was not deliberate he should have reported it to the police.
He said the defendant lived with his 84-year-old mother who has mobility issues. Sentencing, Recorder Greg Bull KC said: "You have an appalling record of previous offending in relation to the possession of indecent photographs of children.
"You have served sentences of imprisonment in the past and made subject to various court orders including a SHPO – one which was imposed relatively recently. You were made subject to a suspended sentence of imprisonment for breaching the SHPO.
"This offence was committed just a few months after that suspended sentence was imposed and you know the court regards breaches of these orders as a serious offence that cannot be overlooked. This shows an inability by you to stray from looking at disgusting photographs of children and children must be protected."
Harris was sentenced to a total of 18 months imprisonment. He was made subject to another sexual harm prevention order and sex offender notification requirements for 10 years.