Locations
Portmeads Rise, Birtley, Chester Le Street, Gateshead, DH3
Description
Convicted child sex offender Darron Wilkinson avoided activation of a two-year suspended prison sentence after breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by travelling to Dublin for work without notifying police, claiming he did not realise the Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK.
Wilkinson, 51, of Portmeads Rise, Birtley, appeared at Durham Crown Court on 28 August 2026. He had already been given a last chance in May after admitting he failed to give police seven days’ notice of four long-haul delivery trips to Dublin between 21 January and 13 April.
The two-year suspended sentence was imposed at Newcastle Crown Court in August 2025 after he pleaded guilty to three offences arising from sexualised communication with what he believed was a 12-year-old girl on an online chat site. He suggested travelling to Coventry for a sexual liaison. The “girl” was an undercover police officer. He was also made subject to a ten-year SHPO and ten-year sex offender registration.
At the May hearing, when he lived at Victoria Terrace, Trimdon Colliery, Recorder Mark McKone told him: “It seems to me you put your work before this court order.” Sentence was deferred until 27 November on condition of no further breaches. Bail conditions that had cost Wilkinson his job were lifted so he could try to return to work.
He was back before the same court after an undeclared iPhone was found when he was arrested on 26 April. The phone had been in his possession for six weeks. The court heard that breach pre-dated the May appearance.
Recorder McKone said he would again give Wilkinson “the benefit of the doubt”, as he had when “you went to the Republic of Ireland, believing it was still part of the UK.”
Dan Wilberforce, defending, said the problem was Wilkinson’s “understanding of the order”, made worse by partial literacy and that he “struggles with documentation.”
The Recorder said: “Between January 21 and April 13 this year you went to Dublin four times and, when you left, you were required to give seven days’ notice to the police. It’s your case you didn’t realise the Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK.”
Wilkinson was fined £50. The deferred sentence remains in place until 27 November.
Recorder McKone told him: “My advice to you is, if in doubt, ask your probation officer to check you are not further breaching the order.”