Gary Davies 68

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POLICE discovered that a convicted sex offender was using a secret phone after a probation worker spotted him with a couple and their young child in Carlisle.

Gary Davies, 68, had made friends with the family, who were unaware of his past history of committing child sex offences.

At the city’s crown court, prosecutor Gerard Rogerson outlined how police became aware of Davies' most recent offending.

The defendant, of London Road, Carlisle, had earlier admitted breaching his sexual harm prevention order and two counts of failing to comply with being on the Sex Offender Register.

Davies was given a sexual harm prevention order in 2021, after he was prosecuted for outraging public decency.

He did this by performing a sex act in his van, just wards away from an outdoor children’s birthday party. His criminal history also included “contact” sex offences against children and possessing indecent child images, the court heard.

Describing the latest offences, Mr Rogerson said the defendant’s court order means he can only own an internet device if it is fitted with police monitoring software.

He is also legally obliged to notify police of any online accounts he uses and his username and he is banned from having unsupervised contact with any child.

In December last year, a probation worker contacted the police confirming that Davies was seen in the city centre with a couple, who were with their three-year-old child.

They said they had formed a “friendship” with Davies.

But investigations showed they were unaware of the defendant’s sexual offending history. They gave police a mobile phone number that they had used to contact the defendant.

When police visited Davies at the Carlisle hotel where he was then living, he admitted having that Nokia phone, which he had failed to disclose, as he is required to under the terms of the sexual harm prevention order. 

He had also set up undisclosed accounts on YouTube and TikTok. Mr Rogerson said: “He said he was aware of [his order’s] prohibition, but he got tired of waiting for the probation service to return his mobile, which did have the monitoring software.

“So he purchased the Nokia."

After hearing the details, Judge Michael Fanning jailed the defendant for two years. The defendant committed the offences between mid-October and mid-December last year.