A SEX offender jailed for a liaison with a 12-year-old boy planned a similar meeting with what he believed to be another potential ‘target’ child, a court heard.

In reality, the latest 12-year-old boy was a decoy profile set up by police, which Mark Jackson fell for, on an online contact site.

Durham Crown Court was told Jackson was made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and registration as a sex offender after being jailed for 32 months in 2015, having been caught with a 12-year-old boy from Bolton in a hotel room in Birmingham.

He admitted child abduction and meeting a boy following grooming.

The terms of the SHPO prohibited him from contacting or meeting anyone under 16.

But, earlier this year, he made online contact with the profile, ‘Connor’, supposedly 12 and from Carlisle.

He provided him with a Skype Messenger address and, between March 10 and June 14, conversed regularly with him, turning to intimate matters, asking if he wanted a boyfriend, adding fulsome descriptions of some of his previous sexual encounters.

Omar Ahmad, prosecuting, said Jackson suggested what sexual activity they could perform together, sending him graphic images of his private parts.

He asked ‘Connor’ if he could get away from his mother to visit him or suggested he could travel to Carlisle to meet him when his mother was away from home.

Mr Ahmad said all contact ended on June 14 and Jackson was arrested a fortnight later at his place of work.

His home address was searched and a computer with memory stick was seized for examination.

It was found to contain 32 indecent images of children, boys aged as young as five, with three being classed in the most serious category.

Jackson, 38, of School Court, Broom Park, near Durham, admitted breaching the SHPO, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and three counts of making an indecent image of a child.

Jennifer Coxon, for Jackson, said he acknowledged there was an apparent risk posed by his behaviour, but, in reality, there was no risk as there was no boy.

But Miss Coxon said the defendant also acknowledged he needs long-term assistance to deal with his sexual preferences.

Recorder Jonathan Sandiford said it was a clear and sustained breach of the order.

Referring to a pre-sentence Probation Service report on him, Recorder Sandiford told Jackson he was assessed as posing a high risk of harm to underage boys.

Imposing sentences totalling three years, he said Jackson will remain subject to the SHPO for another five years, and the lifetime sex offender registration requirements.

 

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