Brian Richardson 61

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An Eden Valley sex offender has received a suspended jail term for breaching a court order stemming from US offenses.

Brian Richardson, 61, admitted violating his sex offender registration at Carlisle’s Rickergate magistrates' court.

Prosecutor Diane Jackson detailed the case: The Kirkby Stephen resident was convicted in Texas in 2019 for possessing indecent images and attempting to meet a child after grooming.

“He was sentenced in 2019 and deported back to the UK following the end of his prison sentence and in 2021 he was made the subject of indefinite notification,” she explained.

Due to the US conviction, Richardson is on the UK Sex Offender Register indefinitely.

During a visit from his Cumbrian offender manager, he was found to have failed to notify police within three days of various online usernames on Snapchat, Kik, Twitter (now X), and Gmail, plus two bank accounts.

There were no prior breaches.

Defending, Duncan Campbell said Richardson knew he must report bank accounts but didn't realize the three-day deadline. “There was no question of his trying to hide the accounts,” the lawyer stated.

The online and Gmail accounts were old, and Richardson had been open with police, offering his devices for inspection.

Over three years, Richardson cared for his father with Alzheimer’s and terminal cancer. “He [the defendant] was effectively a prisoner in his own home,” Mr. Campbell added, noting the breach was “unwittingly done.”

The lead magistrate cited a “realistic possibility of rehabilitation” while suspending a one-year jail term for two years.

This includes 10 rehabilitation activity days, a 26-session Building Better Choices program, and 40 hours of unpaid work. Richardson, of Quarry Close, Kirkby Stephen, must pay £85 costs and a £187 victim surcharge.