Darlington sex offender back in court for breaching order

Bradley Hall was arrested when police turned up at his workplace to check whether he was complying with the terms of his sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

The 25-year-old was sacked from his job when his employer heard about his conviction from 2016 when he was a teenager.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Hall was regularly left looking after the two children while he employed over several weeks last year.

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Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, said the defendant was jailed in March 2016 and made subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.

He said Hall secured a job with a property management company looking after a shopping centre in September last year and failed to notify his employer about his conviction until he was arrested on October 22.

“On about 15 occasions he was left alone with the two children,” he said. “Had the company known about his previous convictions the manager would not have left him alone with his children.”

Hall, of Columbia Street, Darlington, pleaded guilty to two breaches of his SHPO.

As an 18-year-old he was jailed for four and a half years after admitting a string of sex offences - including raping a 12-year-old girl – which he carried out when he was 15 or 16.

Christopher Bevan, mitigating, said his client had managed to keep himself out of trouble since his release from a young offenders’ institute and didn’t realise that he would be left to care for children during his work.

He added: “The original offences, which were heinous, were committed when he was a child himself.

“He was made subject of SHPO and this his first breach of it. He has moved on significantly since then.”

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Judge Stephen Ashurst sentenced Hall to eight months in prison, suspended for two years after admitting breaching the order by looking after the children despite it not being in his job description.

He said: “You knew that you had been put in a difficult position but you chose to protect your job and income, so decided not to do anything about it.

“This was an unfortunate set of circumstances that you were asked to look after these children and it is not something that you set out to do.”

The judge also reminded the defendant that his SHPO remains in place until 2026.