A WREXHAM sex offender has been jailed after he failed to tell police about his circumstances.

Michael David Roberts, of Wrexham, appeared at Mold Crown Court on Tuesday for sentencing.

The 34-year-old had previously admitted two counts of failing to comply with notification requirements of the sex offenders register in that he didn’t let police know he’d used social media under another name and he’d been staying at a household where there was a person under 18 present.

Karl Scholz, prosecuting, told the court Roberts had been made subject to those requirements after admitting in 2018 that he had attempted to meet a child following sexual grooming and attempted to have sexual communication with a child.

In those offences, he’d spoken with what he believed to be a 14-year-old and arranged to meet her in Wrexham, telling her he ‘intended to have sex with her’.

He was seen outside a school in Wrexham in December 2017 by a group named Internet Intercepts and confronted with the chat logs between him and the ‘child’ before the police were called.

The most recent offences took place between 2020 and 2021, coming to light when a prison officer Roberts had known received a message from him under another name.

The police were notified and attended the address in Wrexham where he was registered - but found he was no longer living there.

He was arrested in February 2021 at another Wrexham address, where it was discovered he’d been staying several nights a week since April the previous year.

The resident who had allowed him to stay had a child in the house and wasn’t aware he was a sex offender.

It was also discovered he’d been using two aliases on Facebook, which he hadn’t notified the police about.

Simon Killeen, defending, said: “The contact and change of names, I concede, risks harm and distress.

“It has to be an immediate sentence - this defendant has been in custody since his arrest.

“He has learning needs and communication difficulties. He has confirmed he is finding it very difficult.

“He doesn’t help himself - he disengages when they try to help him.”

Judge Rhys Rowlands told him: “You set up Facebook accounts using those names because you wanted to remain anonymous - you hadn’t told the police.

“You stayed at the home of a couple with a [child] - it’s clear the lady didn’t know you were a convicted sex offender. She felt sorry for you.

“The breaches were deliberate and prolonged.”

Roberts received a 16 month custodial sentence for each offence, to run concurrently.