JACK VICKERS

POLICE DELAYS HELP ALREADY-CONVICTED PAEDOPHILE JACK VICKERS AVOID JAIL

A TWICE convicted paedophile has avoided jail because of policing problems and treatment delays.

Convicted sex offender Jack Vickers admitted to police officers he was still looking at depraved sexual images of children but little was done for more than a year, a failing which yesterday helped him stay out of prison for a second time.

Vickers, 29, of Wivenhoe Road, Colchester, was convicted in September 2014 of making thousands of indecent images of children.

He was caught with around 3,500 of the highest level A images and received a suspended sentence, was put on the sex offenders' register for ten years and was subject to sex offenders' protection order.

When police went to check on him, as part of the order on June 18, 2015, he admitted he had been looking at images again and five level C images were found on his computer.

By this point a year long rehabilitation course, which was ordered by the court and designed to protect children and stop offending, had still not begun and didn't start until that October, 13 months after he was originally sentenced.

He was arrested and bailed.

In September 2016 Vickers, who had not moved, did not report his address to police which he was required to do as a registered sex offender.

It was suggested, at Chelmsford Crown Court, this was when officers noticed the outstanding offence of making images from their visit 15 months previously.

Vickers was sentenced yesterday after he admitted making the images he was caught with in June 2015, admitted failing to comply with the notification requirements and breaching the suspended sentence.

The court heard that the delay in prosecution and treatment had influenced the outcome.

Vickers was fined £500 for breaching the suspended sentence and given a 24 month community order with 30 days of rehabilitation activity for making the images in June 2015 and failing to report his address in September 2016.