Darrel Carter 32

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A REGISTERED sex offender is back behind bars for sending text messages to a 15-year-old girl and unlawful possession of an iPad Mini.

Darrel Stephen Carter, 31, was issued with a sexual risk order (SRO) in 2020 at the request of police seeking to curb potential offending against young females.

The indefinite SRO bans Carter from contacting any girls aged under 18; and places tough restrictions on his access to electronic devices.

Carter had been identified by police as posing a potential risk to vulnerable females.

But being subject to the order has not kept him out of trouble.

For previous breaches he has been made subject to a suspended prison sentence and he was later jailed for again failing to stick by the SRO terms.

It was following his release from custody on licence, halfway through a 23-month sentence, that he broke the law once more during the course of several weeks, Carlisle Crown Court heard, by contacting the teen.

“He was in contact with her on a number of occasions using different social network applications and online platforms, such as Facebook and Facebook Messenger,” said Gerard Rogerson, prosecuting.

“Mr Carter, it is suggested, was fully aware of her age, being 15, and also that she was unaware of his past, namely as a registered sex offender and being subject to the order.”

One message sent by Carter — who befriended the girl after sending a Facebook friend request and instigated contact with her — read: “Come on, you are 15.

“There is nothing inappropriate or sexually suggestive within the messages,” Mr Rogerson told the court.

It was when Carter was recalled to prison that a phone was seized and the messages came to light.

Carter also committed a second breach through his possession of an iPad Mini device — capable of accessing the internet — which was not declared to police as it should have been. This had been used to access Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok.

“He admitted keeping the device hidden and using it,” said the prosecutor. “He commented ‘I don’t know why I’ve done it’.”

Carter, of Oakleigh Way, Carlisle, pleaded guilty to two breaches.

Defence lawyer Andrew Evans highlighted the fact that Carter had made full admissions when quizzed by police.

Mr Evans said in an address to Judge Nicholas Barker: “In a letter to Your Honour he has stated he is motivated to seek change.”

The judge noted that only an immediate prison sentence should be imposed in the case. Mr Evans asked that detailed background reports prepared by a probation officer and psychiatrist should accompany Carter to prison in the hope that professional help could be offered.

“That is the only route to breaking the cycle,” said Mr Evans. “What he needs is assistance, wherever he is.”

Judge Barker jailed Carter for 20 months. “You would have known, particularly having been released from a 23-month sentence that those who supervised you would have been concerned by your contact with such a young female,” said the judge, “that it was in breach of your order and that it would — had it been discovered — led to your arrest and potential imprisonment.

“Therefore there is, in my judgement, by you, an interest in taking what can be described as deliberate risk taking behaviour.”

Judge Barker accepted struggles in Carter’s early life and a comment by him in relation to SRO compliance that “I don’t think it is clicking in my head”.

But he told the defendant: “If you are intent, as you suggest, on addressing your offending behaviour you will need to expand on the reasons why you commit these offences. Without that you will carry on doing them.

“If that is the case you will spend longer and longer in prison.”