June 2015 A judge has asked that parents be told to keep their children away from a registered sex offender after he was cleared of trying to speak to two boys near his home in Exeter. Anthony Pyle let out a loud cheer and raised his arms in celebration in the dock of Exeter Crown Court as the jury foreman announced the verdict. He had been accused of breaking an order which bans him from speaking to children after a neighbour filmed him with the boys in Myrtle Road last year. Pyle, aged 52, of Myrtle Road, denied breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) and was found not guilty. He is an alcoholic who was made subject of the SOPO in 2009 after an incident in which he tried to give a 14-year-old girl a drunken kiss. He has been convicted of breaking the order at least once since then. He was filmed by neighbours Rebecca Bradbury and McCauley McNenemy as he walked away from two boys who he had been talking to. Mr McNenemy could be heard telling him on the smartphone clip ‘you know you aren’t allowed to talk to kids’. The incident was followed by a short stand off between the two men in which Pyle is said to have crouched like a Sumo wrestler and Mr McNenemy allegedly broke a bottle of vodka which Pyle had been carrying. Pyle was acquitted after telling the jury the boys had approached him and he had told them he was not allowed to talk to them and was walking away. He also alleged that some local children knew about the SOPO and taunted him by talking to him in the street or asking him for money. After the case Judge Alan Large urged the police to speak to parents in the area to defuse the situation. He said:”There is an issue in the community. Pyle is someone who likes to talk to people. He engaged me in conversation as I was coming back from lunch. “People in the area in which he lives need to know he is under the order so they can tell their children not to speak to him. Everyone needs to know where they stand.” August 2010 Talking to children broke order A convicted paedophile has admitted breaching a court order by talking to youngsters. Anthony Pyle, a 46-year-old alcoholic who lives near Cowick Street, Exeter, was due to face trial at Exeter Crown Court for breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO). He had admitted one offence but denied another two allegations, all involving talking to children under 16. Pyle was jailed for nine months at the crown court last year, after pleading guilty to sexual activity with a child. The original offence was in September 2008, when he drunkenly hugged and kissed a 14-year-old girl, without her consent, while walking past her in the St Thomas area of the city. He was given a SOPO, until further notice, which included not to contact any child without their parent being present, and told to put his details on the Sex Offender Register. Judge James Tabor QC told the court that legal guidelines meant Pyle was likely to receive the same sentence, whether he was convicted of one offence or three. Concerns were raised about Pyle’s need for mental health treatment and about the young witnesses having to give evidence during a trial. Prosecutor Nigel Wraith returned to the court, after a short adjournment, and said the Crown had now made the decision for the other two charges to lie on file. Judge Tabor QC said: “I’m in no way critical of the Crown Prosecution Service… this is one of the rare occasions where this decision had to be made on the day, when all the factors were put before the court.”