Locations
Albert Terrace, Wolstanton, Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5
Description
A sex offender who once groomed and seduced a schoolgirl was caught by police living in the same house as children. Antony Bailey was previously jailed in 2017 after meeting up with a 13-year-old girl several times for sex.
The court heard at the time that he plied her with vodka and coaxed her into bed. He went on to admit charges including sexual activity with a child and causing or inciting prostitution or pornography involving a child.
As well as a seven year and nine month prison term, Bailey was placed on the sex offenders' register and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which banned him from accessing the internet without notifying the authorities. But he breached both by staying at his partner's Abbey Hulton home with her children and using Snapchat.
Now Bailey, aged 27, of Albert Terrace, Wolstanton, has been jailed for 18 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. Prosecutor Antony Longworth said police and an offender manager carried out an unannounced visit to Bailey's Wolstanton address on September 19 this year.
Mr Longworth said: "He was asked to provide any internet enabled devices. He produced a phone which was checked. It showed he had been shopping for women's clothing.
"He disclosed he was in a relationship with a Polish woman. She had two sons and he had been staying with her. He was arrested.
"The property was searched and the items were found on an iPhone. It showed he had been using a user name which he had not notified to the police. He had been accessing Snapchat which he had not notified to the police.
"His partner had not been informed of the nature of his convictions. In June 2022 he had been staying at her house five nights a week and in July he had effectively moved in there when the children were still living there.
"She was aware he had criminal convictions but had been told they were for violence. He agreed he lived there until May 2023 when he moved out.
"He accepted he should have notified the police of the phone and his user name. He said he was remorseful and angry with himself."
The breaches included him:
- Using an iPhone to access Snapchat which he is banned from doing as it does not retain the history of internet use.
- Failing to make two internet enabled devices - an iPhone and Xbox - available to police when requested.
- Failing to notify the police that he had stayed seven days or more at his partner's house in Abbey Hulton.
- Failing to notify that he had spent 12 hours or more with a child under 18.
- Failing to notify his Snapchat user name within three days.
Bailey pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching a SHPO and three charges of failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders' register.
Anis Ali, mitigating, said Bailey has been recalled to prison on licence and his earliest release date is in 2025. He added: "I ask you to recognise the level of compliance demonstrated by him, in particular his guilty pleas."
Judge Graeme Smith said: "You were candid in your interview. You knew about the restraints that you had to comply with and you failed to do so."
He said there was clearly a significant risk to the children but there was no suggestion there was any harm caused to them. He added the offending was aggravated because Bailey was on licence at the time and because of his previous convictions.
The judge made a deprivation order for the phone.