Ellesmere Port man jailed for breaching Sexual Harm Prevention Order

A 25-year-old man from Ellesmere Port has been jailed after breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order by possessing indecent images of children.

Neil Webb, of Bruera Road, Ellesmere Port, was sentenced to 20 months in prison at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday 8 March.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to two sexual harm breaches and breaching his suspended sentence. Webb was previously convicted of possessing and making indecent images of children at Cheshire Magistrates Court on 12 February 2021 and sentenced to eight months imprisonment suspended for 24 months.

He was also subjected to the notification requirements of the Sex Offender Register and given a 10 Year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

DS Keith Campbell said: “As a registered sex offender Webb was required to adhere to a number of conditions to deter him from reoffending. An officer allocated to monitoring him visited his home address on 25 June to ensure he was keeping to his conditions.

Following a check of his mobile phone, she discovered it was on private browsing mode which masked his internet history - a breach of his prevention order.”

The officer then checked the device, but no indecent images of children were found, but on further scrutiny of the phone, the officer discovered there were in excess of 350 bookmarked URL’s. These related to Category C indecent images of Children.

On 2 February 2022 a warrant was executed at Webb’s home address and a further phone, which was not registered with the police, was seized from him. This was found to contain 198 images indicative of indecent images of children.

DS Keith Campbell said: “This shows the effectiveness of monitoring offenders who are subject to Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and highlights the consequences of not adhering to the conditions.

“I hope it reassures people that we do carefully monitor registered sex offenders in the community and take action when a breach is discovered.”

Pictured - Neil Webb of Bruera Road in Ellesmere Port.