Katie Birtles 40

Description

A registered sex offender who knowingly breached orders preventing her from having any contact with children has been jailed.

Katie Birtles, 40, of Wroxall Drive in Grantham, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court earlier today (19 May) and was handed a sentence of four years and eight months in prison for the following offences:

• One count of engaging in sexual communication with a child.
• One count of arranging/facilitating commission of offence of sexual activity.
• Two counts of breaching their Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Birtles will have an extended period of two years on license following her release. 

A SHPO is an order given by the Court to a person who poses a risk of sexual harm to either the general public or to an individual person. It consists of restrictions which can include not contacting children or a specific individual, limiting internet use or prohibitions on travelling to certain areas.

Police received a report that a 40-year-old woman was intending to meet with who she thought was a 14-year-old girl at Grantham train station on Thursday 16 January. Officers attended and intercepted the meeting, and subsequently arrested Birtles.

Chat logs obtained from Birtles’ phone revealed that she was sending sexually explicit messages and grooming young girls under 16 years old over a two-week period in January. Within the messages, Birtles was actively encouraging sexual activity, offering to buy gifts such as wine and chocolates, and was making plans to meet her victims for sex.

Birtles was previously convicted of three counts of making indecent images of children in 2017, for which she was sentenced to nine months in prison. She was court ordered to comply with a 10-year SHPO, with one of the conditions preventing her from having any direct or indirect contact with children under 16 both online and offline.

Birtles was charged on 18th January and was remanded into custody. Following today’s sentence, Birtles will remain on the sex offender’s register for life and will have an indefinite SHPO with a restriction on software monitoring. 

Investigating officer DC Nicola Paradowski from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT), said: “As a team we are dedicated to protecting the most vulnerable in our society and keeping children safe from harm, working long hours to make sure dangerous offenders such as Birtles are brought to justice. I hope this sends a clear message that we will not tolerate child sexual exploitation in our county and will take robust action.

“Breaches to orders like the Sexual Harm Prevention Order will be dealt with, and action will be taken immediately, to ensure we continue to protect those at risk of most harm in our communities.”