HUW EDWARDS PORT TALBOT SEX OFFENDER CAUGHT HIDING RELATIONSHIP AND DELETING MESSAGES

A man from Port Talbot, Huw Edwards, attempted to conceal his past as a registered sex offender from his new partner and took steps to hide their relationship from authorities by deleting incriminating messages from his phone, a court has heard. The incident unfolded when an attentive offender manager noticed suspicious gaps in the text conversations between Edwards and a woman, raising suspicion about his honesty.

In February of the previous year, Edwards was sentenced to a period of suspended imprisonment after being found in possession of a significant collection of child sex abuse images. As part of his sentence, he was placed on the sex offenders register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order, which aimed to restrict his activities and monitor his behavior.

Fast forward to May this year, when a routine visit was conducted at Edwards' residence in Port Talbot by his offender manager. During this visit, the officer inquired whether Edwards was involved in any sexual relationships. Edwards responded that he was not involved with anyone romantically. However, during the interaction, the officer observed that Edwards appeared noticeably nervous.

Upon examining Edwards' mobile phone, the officer discovered a series of messages with a contact that showed signs of having been partially deleted. The WhatsApp application, which had previously been installed on the device, was also missing. These findings prompted further questioning, during which Edwards admitted to having met a woman at a Wetherspoon pub. He claimed that they had only seen each other a few times and insisted that their relationship was purely non-sexual.

Police investigations later traced the woman involved, who was described by officers as being