South Shields sex offender back in court after failing to tell police he'd bought new Xbox

Dean Moore, 27, of Richmond Road, South Shields, swapped his outdated Xbox device for a new model.

But he failed to inform his offender manager of the purchase, putting him in breach of a court-imposed Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

The five-year order was imposed when he was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court in 2019 on three charges of making indecent images or pseudo images of children in 2017.

It compels him to inform his offender manager within three days of being in possession of any new internet enabled device.

At South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, he pleaded guilty to breaching the SHPO on Saturday, October 9, 2019, a day police visited his home.

After entering his plea, magistrates and his defence solicitor criticised the length of time it had taken to bring the case to court.

Prosecutor Paul Anderson said: “There was put in place this SHPO, and he was made subject to a number of conditions.

“The most significant is that he is not allowed to use any computer or internet enabled device unless police are told within three days.

“Police searched his house and found the Xbox. Checks showed that he hadn’t told within the three days, and had breached the order.

“He did tell police that he had told his offender manager a few years before when he bought a device of this nature and sold another.

“He accepts that he didn’t tell his offender manager that he had bought another device.

“You may think that because he was aware of the requirements of the order, that he was in deliberate breach.”

Jason Smith, defending, said: “This is ancient, this is an ancient offence. It’s nonsensical, it’s taken almost three years.

“He buys an Xbox and tells his offender manager that he has sold it, and he gets a slightly better Xbox.

“He thought that it didn’t matter because he already had an Xbox.”

Magistrates told Moore his offence was at the lowest level – and fined him £40, with £85 court costs and a £32 victim surcharge.

John Lee, chair of the bench, said: “The first thing that we’d like to say is it’s not right that it should take three years for it to come to court.”