A "DETERMINED" sex offender has been locked up yet again after police discovered indecent images and an illicit phone at his home.
Christopher Booth, presently of HMP Berwyn in Wrexham, appeared at Mold Crown Court via video link for sentence on Friday morning.
The 67-year-old had previously admitted five offences of breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), one of failing to comply with notification requirements as a sex offender and one of possessing indecent images of children; most of which took place in November last year in Flintshire.
Myles Wilson, prosecuting, told the court that in 2018, Booth was made the subject of an SHPO following his conviction for meeting a child following grooming.
The order required him to seek permission from the police if he was to have or be in possession of any computer or internet-capable device.
It also prohibited him from having any software designed to conceal his identity on the internet, as well as deleting or removing his internet history.
Mr Wilson said Booth had breached all of those - and had also failed to notify police of seven bank accounts he held, which put him in breach of his notification requirements.
Finally, the indecent images offence related to 93 printed pictures, mainly of females aged around ten, which had been hidden within the pages of magazines at Booth's home.
The SHPO offences came to light when officers found a mobile phone wrapped in aluminium foil.
It had various pieces of software installed which were capable of hiding his identity and concealing his internet use.
Mr Wilson told the court Booth had numerous previous convictions on his record, including indecent images of children in 2004, indecent images and breach of an SHPO in 2006, breaching an SHPO and indecent images in 2015 - and then the offending in 2018 which gave rise to the defendant's latest SHPO; each of which has resulted in a custodial sentence.
Ryan Rothwell, defending, spoke of his client's pre-sentence report, explaining: "I am afraid it doesn't make for the brightest reading.
"Nor does his record, or these offences."
Mr Rothwell recognised the seriousness of his client's behaviour and conceded immediate custody would be uppermost in the court's mind.
He explained the defendant had been recalled to serve the licence period of his 2018 sentence (which had been an eight-year period of imprisonment).
Having now completed that sentence, he said, Booth had spent three months on remand in connection with his latest offences; which would count towards his sentence.
"The only other real real point I can raise is in relation to totality," he said.
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"I invite Your Honour to impose concurrent sentences on all offences."
Mr Recorder Paul Lewis told the defendant he was "wholly satisfied" that he had taken the measures he had with regards to the software on his phone in order to "conceal from the authorities your determined and continued hunt for illicit and indecent imagery."
Booth received an immediate custodial term of 38 months and must pay a victim surcharge of £228 within six months of his release.
The Judge told him he would likely serve up to half of the sentence in custody before being released on licence.
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