WHITEHAVEN MAN BENJAMIN KENNEDY SENT BACK TO PRISON FOR CHILD ABUSE IMAGE OFFENSES

Benjamin Kennedy, a 34-year-old resident of Whitehaven, has found himself once again behind bars after a series of concerning online activities that violated the terms of his previous court orders. Kennedy, who had previously undergone a Probation Service course aimed at rehabilitating sex offenders, was caught returning to the dark world of child abuse images, leading to serious legal repercussions.

According to court records, Kennedy was found to have downloaded 11 indecent images of children, a revelation that shocked the courtroom and underscored the persistent nature of his offending behavior. Kennedy attributed his relapse to poor mental health and excessive alcohol consumption, which he claimed had clouded his judgment and led to his recent misconduct.

The case was heard at Carlisle Crown Court, where it was revealed that Kennedy, of Haig Road in Whitehaven, had previously admitted to possessing indecent images of children, as well as breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) on two separate occasions. The court was told that Kennedy’s criminal history includes a conviction from April 2021 for engaging in sexual activity with a minor and causing a child to observe a sexual act. Following that conviction, he was sentenced to a community order and was subject to the SHPO, which was intended to restrict his online activity and prevent further offending.

Despite these measures, Kennedy appeared before the court again in November 2022 after being caught downloading more indecent images. He received an eight-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, as a punitive measure and a warning to reform. However, the recent offenses demonstrated that Kennedy had not fully addressed the underlying issues that led to his previous crimes.

Further details emerged during the hearing, revealing that on August 17 of the previous year, Kennedy informed his offender manager that he had acquired a new Samsung phone equipped with “E-safe” police monitoring software. Despite this, authorities later discovered that Kennedy had deliberately stopped the software from functioning properly. When police requested to examine his phone on November 4, they found that messages on Snapchat had been intentionally deleted, in violation of his SHPO, which mandated that messages be retained and not automatically deleted after 24 hours.

This breach prompted a more thorough investigation of Kennedy’s device, during which the illegal images were uncovered. Evidence also indicated that Kennedy had been actively requesting sexual images from other users online, further demonstrating his ongoing predatory behavior.

Kim Whittlestone, representing Kennedy, argued that the Snapchat message deletion was due to the app’s automatic settings and that Kennedy should have been aware of this. She emphasized that Kennedy was struggling with mental health issues, feeling unable to move forward with his life, partly due to personal stressors such as his father being targeted at work and an incident of assault that caused additional strain on his family. These factors, she said, contributed to Kennedy’s increased alcohol consumption and subsequent offending.

Whittlestone acknowledged that Kennedy had completed the Probation Service’s New Horizons Programme for sex offenders and expressed hope that he could re-engage with support services after his release, aiming to put his offending behind him. However, the court was told that Kennedy’s mental health struggles and ongoing offending demonstrated a failure to reform.

Judge Nicholas Barker described Kennedy as a “persistent sexual offender” and emphasized that the purpose of the previous community order was to facilitate rehabilitation through the intervention of highly trained professionals. He pointed out that the suspended sentence imposed in January 2023 served as a clear warning, yet Kennedy had failed to heed it. The judge stated that there were no effective interventions left that could address Kennedy’s behavior, and therefore, the court could not see a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.

Consequently, Judge Barker sentenced Kennedy to 15 months in prison. Additionally, Kennedy will be required to register as a sex offender for the next seven years, underscoring the seriousness of his violations and the ongoing risk he poses to the community of Whitehaven.