Description
A Dover sex offender has been jailed after specialist Kent Police officers tracked him down 100 miles from home.
Matthew Downing was issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in January 2022 after being convicted of offences including the making of indecent images of children.
His access to the internet is strictly controlled as a result, meaning he is unable to use any phone or computer without first notifying Kent Police and allowing monitoring software to be installed.
In February 2025 officers became aware that Downing, 25, had been using such devices without permission but were unable to locate him at his home address in Salisbury Road, Dover.
He was therefore treated as a missing sex offender and within days was found sleeping in a newly-purchased car in the Surrey village of Gomshall by officers from the MOSOVO (Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders) Targeting Team.
Custody
Downing was taken into custody where he refused to answer any questions during interview and was later charged with 13 separate offences including 10 breaches of his SHPO. These relate to his use of an anonymous web browser, an online storage device and a social media app with disappearing messages, and his failure to notify police that he had access to a smartphone, a laptop computer and two virtual computers.
He also used the dark web to make indecent images of children, and breached the terms of his notification requirements by failing to register dating app usernames.
Downing pleaded guilty to all offences and was sentenced to five years and three months’ imprisonment when he appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday 8 May 2025, including two years and three months for unrelated offences committed outside of Kent.
Sexual abuse
Investigating officer Detective Constable Marie-Anne Boulton of Kent Police said:
‘Matthew Downing has repeatedly demonstrated that he cannot be trusted to access the internet without being complicit in the sexual abuse of children whose images he views and shares online.‘Sexual Harm Prevention Orders help to reduce the risk offenders like Downing may pose to the public after being released from prison, and enforcing them is a responsibility we take very seriously.‘Downing thought he could get away with hiding his devices from us by running away to Surrey, but our specialist officers were quickly able to locate him and bring him to justice. He will now serve another period of time behind bars as a result.’