October 2018 Convicted paedophile didn’t tell woman his full past before he met her kids A convicted paedophile who befriended a woman with children ended up back in court after failing to reveal the full extent of his past. In 2016, James Hanson was handed a court order which included having to declare previous convictions and have written permission from parents or guardians before having contact with youngsters. But Bristol Crown Court heard he failed to do so and breached the order in a number of other ways. Hanson, 39 and of Waveney Road in Keynsham, pleaded guilty to breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order. Judge Julian Lambert handed him a three-year community order with rehabilitation and 120 hours’ unpaid work. The judge told him: “I expect complete compliance with the order. “You were expected to reveal all. “You immediately admitted everything and there is hope for you yet with rehabilitation. “I cannot tolerate further breaches of this order. “If it is breached further prison is the place for you.” Gregory Gordon, prosecuting, said Hanson befriended a woman and met her children. Hanson did disclose he was on the sex offender register and had committed a sex offence regarding a youngster aged around 16, the court heard. But he did not get written permission before he met her children. There was evidence he deleted his Internet history and didn’t produce a phone to police as he was required to do. Mr Gordon said: “The woman found out what his offence was, called him a paedophile, and blocked him from seeing her.” Hanson’s previous offence involved him sending topless pictures to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl and being caught red-handed by online paedophile hunters. He was caught by Online Predator Investigation Team (OPIT) after sending pictures and sexual messages to a Facebook profile he believed belonged to a girl called Ellie from Nottinghamshire. He admitted sending messages of a sexual nature to ‘Ellie’, and sending a number of inappropriate images including a picture of himself in the shower and a shot of him wearing women’s underwear. He was unaware he was actually talking to an adult investigator, who had created a fake profile. At the time Hanson pleaded guilty to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He was given a two-year community order, ordered to carry out 120 hours of community service, and handed a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. November 2016 Sex offender sent this shower pic to a ‘teenage girl’ – she was actually an online paedophile hunter A sex offender who sent a picture of himself in the shower to a girl he thought was 14 was actually talking to an online paedophile hunter. The 37-year-old, who is engaged to be married, also encouraged the ‘girl’ to masturbate as they chatted on Facebook. But Bristol Crown Court was told that James Hanson’s lewd conversations were with a member of a group called the Online Predator Investigation Team, who studiously logged all the details of the conversation and passed it on to police. Hanson spent hours on Facebook telling what he believed to be a girl called Ellie how wonderful she was. He eventually “unfriended” her but not until he had tried to persuade her to touch herself intimately. Hanson, of Charlock Road in Weston-super-Mare, pleaded guilty to attempting to a charge of incite a child to engage in sexual activity in January 2015. Jennifer Tallentire, prosecuting, said a Facebook profile was set up purporting to be a girl aged 14. She said: “It was created in order to give information to police in a preventative way. There was no ‘Ellie’. “The defendant made contact with her via Facebook. He knew she was 14. Her date of birth was 24.11.2000. He was 37 at the time.”   The court heard he made a friend request to her and they had sexualised conversations for around six weeks before he unfriended her. Miss Tallentire made it clear that it was Hanson who was instigating sex talk, not Ellie. The court was presented with logs of a chat in January last year, which read as follows: Hanson: “Can I ask you to touch urself now? As we are chatting? Xx” Ellie: “where” Hanson: “On ur privates…xx” Ellie: “I dunno nvr done that x” Hanson: “Hehe its ok,, all you do is place a finger or two on the top n give it a gentle rub up n down ,,, few times. After a while ,,, you will feel hot …maybe try placing a fingertip inside urself ..ull see wat I mean… xx.” Ellie: “I dunno seems weird x” Hanson: “Ok… maybe try wen ur a lil older… xx” Ellie: “yeh x” Hanson: “Its called masterbating. Sorry for being rude ..,” Kerry Barker, defending, said: “This was totally out of character.” He indicated to a full public gallery containing Hanson’s family, his fiancée and her family. His mother-in-law-to-be told the court: “He’s a great guy, honest and hard-working. “This is out of character for James. He is generous and helpful. He’ll do anything to help anybody.” Another character witness described Hanson as “clumsy and gullible”, saying he once deep fat fried a pasty. Mr Barker said Hanson now recognised the impact it would have had, had the fictional girl been real. He told the court: “He sent photographs of himself. All the more stupid, one may think. “To his credit he did in fact stop the behaviour, without knowing the girl concerned was a fictional character.”   This image of a Facebook page shows some of the suggestions made to the ‘girl’ by Hanson Judge Julian Lambert handed Hanson a two-year-community order, with 120 hours of unpaid work and 60 days’ rehabilitation. The judge told him: “There was no child. But the seriousness is there might have been such a child. “It came to light by concerned citizens good enough to monitor the internet for people like you. “The pre-sentence report says you are terrified of the potential consequences of conviction. “Yes, you should have been terrified.” The judge handed Hanson a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, banning him from unchecked internet use. He was told to register as a sex offender for five years.