Luke Tucker 24

Description

A man has been jailed for seven years after breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and striking up a "friendship" with a 13-year-old boy.

Luke Tucker, 23, was convicted of a sexual offence in October 2022 and given an SHPO in February 2023, which required him to notify police if he is going to stay at any address where someone under 18 lives or stays and tell them if he is using any aliases.

He also had his access to the internet significantly limited, as well as his ability to store images and videos. 

Just after he was given his SHPO in February, police have discovered that Tucker struck up a "friendship" with a 13-year-old boy, having told him that he was 16.

Tucker gave the boy gifts, stayed at his home address, and had him back to stay at his own address in Eight Acre Lane in Colchester.

While officers were investigating him, they discovered that Tucker had also been messaging a 15-year-old boy and trying to encourage sexual activity.

They searched his house on March 25 this year and discovered several memory cards, USB sticks and hard drives, all in breach of his SHPO.

He was charged with a range of offences and convicted of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, breaching a sexual harm prevention order, and failing to comply with the requirements of the sex offenders register.

He was jailed for a total of seven years at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday.

PC Graeme Braby, who led the investigation, said: "Luke Tucker poses a very real danger to young people.

"The fact he defied the significant constraints on his contact with children, access to the internet, and access to storage devices highlights the lengths he was prepared to go to.

"Many people around the county will not think, or want to think, about the possibility of a registered sex offender living in their community but I hope the fact there is a professional, specially trained, and dedicated set of officers and staff managing the risk they pose will be reassuring."