South Shields sex offender jailed after police found deleted search history

A convicted sex offender who was found to have deleted his internet search history during a routine check by police has been jailed.

Paul Cummings was already subject to numerous court orders which restricted his online activity after he was convicted of offences against children.

However, Newcastle Crown Court heard the 38-year-old has since "persistently breached" the requirements and he is now beginning a 15-month prison sentence.

The court was told that police visited his home in South Shields, South Tyneside, last December to carry out a routine inspection of his electronic devices.

Officers discovered he had been using WhatsApp and Snapchat but had deleted the apps while up to 18 search items had been removed from the phone's data.

The court heard that some of the deleted searches were retrieved which included articles on sports, but the other items were not recovered.

Cummings, of Woodhouse Court, South Shields, admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order and failing to comply with a notification requirement. He had been made subject to a five-year order for attempting to meet a girl for sex but this was doubled to ten years in 2021 after he was convicted of other sexual offences.

Laura Miller, defending, said: "He knows that he should expect an immediate custodial sentence and he has come prepared.

"He is somebody who does not do well in social settings. He has diagnosed autism spectrum disorder and dyslexia and dyspraxia and he went to a special needs education school.

"In my submission he is somebody who has previously worked well with the probation service. While on previous occasions it hasn't prevented further offending, it's noted that there is further work that could be undertaken with him which could encourage the engagement.

"In my submission this matter crosses the custodial threshold and I can't get away from that but he is somebody who could be made subject to a suspended sentence order.

"That wouldn't be a let off, it would be hanging over his head for a period of over a year or two years."

However, Mr Recorder Anthony Hawkes told Cummings: "Because of offences that you have committed in relation to children in 2000 and 2021, you are a registered sex offender. You are also subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

"It's difficult to accept that you didn't know in advance what the consequences might be.

"You are a registered sex offender. These orders are in place to regulate your activity and cut down any risk that you present to the public. 

"You are a man who has persistently breached these requirements and so I don't think there's any alternative not to pass a sentence of immediate imprisonment so you understand finally that if you go on to breach then you are going to be locked up for periods of time in the near future."