May 2011 Paedophile Eric Carr is back behind bars PAEDOPHILE Eric Carr is back behind bars after chatting to other perverts just hours after being freed. The serial sex offender was banned from contacting others as part of a court order. But hours after being released from his latest prison sentence, he was talking with one on the phone, and police later found a notebook in his bedroom with the names and number of others. When he appeared in court charged with breaching the terms of his sexual offences prevention order, Carr, 54, argued the conversation was perfectly innocent. His barrister said he had been in and out of jail for so long, the only people he knew were other sex offenders Carr, who has a history of sex attacks against children dating back to the 1970s, was made subject of a sexual offences prevention order by Gateshead magistrates in January 2009. And one of the eight terms of the indefinite order was that he is forbidden from contacting any convicted sex offenders. But Newcastle Crown Court heard how he told a member of staff at the hostel where he was staying he had spoken to another former resident, on the phone. Debbie Breen, prosecuting, explained: “He was released on March 22. “The following day he mentioned in passing to a member of staff he had been talking to a former resident who is a known sex offender. “That male has admitted he was contacted out of the blue by the defendant. “Following his arrest his room was searched and a notebook containing a number of contact details of other sex offenders was recovered. “During interview he admitted contacting the male and two other known sex offenders.” Richard Copsey, defending, told Judge Brian Forster that Carr, formerly of Gateshead, did not have any friends that are not sex offenders. And he said the purpose of the call was entirely innocent and had been to get advice about buying a caravan and starting a new life somewhere else. “He’s been locked up for nearly three years and the only people he knows are people he’s been in prison with, locked up for similar offences,” he said. “His reason for contacting these people is to see how they have made a new life for themselves. “He doesn’t want to live in this part of the North East.” Carr was made subject of the order because it was feared he was at high-risk of re-offending. He was convicted of gross indecency with a 10-year-old boy in 1974 in Northumberland. In 1998 he attacked a 13-year-old girl on a sofa after luring her into a house in Wallsend and was jailed for 30 months for a string of sex offences against youngsters. Then in 2002 he was jailed for five and a half years for sexually abusing two girls, aged 12 and 15, when he was invited to house party on Wearside. Carr, who used to run a green-grocers in Sunderland, was also banned from opening a lingerie shop, in 2008, amid fears that his proposed business venture would bring him into contact with young girls. And later that year he was arrested in Carlisle after police discovered he took toys to a cafe – apparently as part of a Christmas appeal – and spent hours sitting there wearing a Santa hat ogling children. Judge Forster jailed Carr, who was formerly known as Eric Stobbart for another 15 months for breaching his order. He said: “At the age of 54 you have a record of various convictions that confirm an attraction to young children. “You had only been out for a period of 24 hours when you made contact with someone who is a recorded sex offender. “You must co-operate with the probation service.” 2008 PERVERT IN SANTA HAT JAILED FOR WATCHING KIDS IN CARLISLE A pervert banned from going anywhere near children spent hours on end sitting in a Santa hat and watching them from the corner of a popular Carlisle café bar. Eric Carr, 51, was banned from having contact with children because of previous convictions for sex offences against young people, which have twice seen him jailed. But that did not stop him turning up for the switching on of Carlisle’s Christmas lights or becoming a regular customer of The Source in Denton Holme, where children often popped in with their parents for after-school activities. Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told the city’s crown court: “He was always present when there were children and families about.” Carr was jailed for two years for breaching the Sexual Offences Prevention Order imposed on him after being released from a prison sentence for indecency with two Newcastle schoolgirls. The order was imposed by Gateshead magistrates in August, after they heard that since his release from prison Carr had been seen with girls under 16 and pestered them with phone calls and texts. Carr, whom the authorities had moved to a Carlisle hostel after he was hounded out of the north east, was arrested after lengthy surveillance by Carlisle police worried about what he might get up to. They discovered that one of his favourite places was The Source in Denton Street, where he persuaded the manageress to approach children’s charities on his behalf, so he could “help them for Christmas”. He took toys to the café, apparently as part of its Christmas appeal, and spent hours sitting there wearing a Santa hat beside a pile of presents. As he sat nursing his pint of lager the man who used to run a greengrocer’s shop in Sunderland, took an unhealthy interest in a group of young musicians performing there and stared at a visiting group of Girl Guides, Mr Rogerson said. “During all the time he was being observed there were children and young people around,” he added. On at least two occasions he was with a friend he had made at the hostel in which he was staying – a man he knew was a convicted sex offender. Such a friendship was also banned by the court order. Carr, formally of Bensham, Gateshead, was convicted of gross indecency with a 10-year-old boy in 1974. In 1998 he was jailed for 30 months for a string of sex offences against youngsters and in May 2002 he was jailed for five-and-a-half years for sexually abusing girls. In mitigation, defence barrister Lindsay Webster said it was important to note that, though probation staff said he posed a high risk of re-offending, Carr had not actually committed any offences since those for which he was jailed in 2002. She added: “He has tried desperately to move on with his life.” Judge Paul Batty QC said Carr had breached the court order “in a number of important and extremely worrying and disturbing ways”. He said he had “ingratiated” himself with staff at The Source so they allowed him to be a part of their Christmas charity appeal. Although Carr had not committed any offences on children “offending is what he had on his mind”. The judge told him: “You are a serious predator so far as children are concerned.”