March 2021 Sex offender broke notification requirements within days of release A sex offender failed to notify police of his whereabouts just days after being released from prison for exactly the same offence. Jamie Boydell, 28, who was originally put on the sex offenders’ register in 2012, has been prosecuted for failing to notify the police of his address 17 times in the past nine years. Yesterday, a judge at Swindon Crown Court spared him an immediate prison sentence after hearing a new psychiatric report pointed to an autistic spectrum disorder being behind Boydell’s repeated failures to comply. But Judge Jason Taylor QC warned: “If you fail to comply again there will be no further chances and your risk will have to be managed by lengthier sentences.” Prosecutor David Scutt said Boydell was originally given a community order in 2012 after he was convicted of sexual activity with a girl under-16. The following year he was re-sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment and his period as a sex offender upped to 10 years. Since then, he had been before the court four times for failing to comply with the notification requirements to register his home address with the police. He was released from prison on October 8 last year, after serving time for flouting his sex offender notification requirements. Boydell again failed to register his address with the police. His Wiltshire Police offender manager, a detective constable, even turned up to the man’s probation appointment to register the address – but Boydell was late. A new psychiatric report commissioned by Boydell’s advocate, Rob Ross, identified that the defendant had an autistic spectrum disorder which would have had an impact on his ability to comply with the order. Judge Taylor told Boydell that new mental health sentencing guidelines allowed him to take his disorder into account when sentencing him. He said of the defendant’s record: “It is a sorry and woeful tale, which cannot be overlooked. These requirements are in place for a reason. It is not for you to pick and choose. “They cannot be ignored and your risk must be managed. Not withstanding any difficulties you may have, you must take responsibility for your own actions.” He imposed a 16 month prison sentence suspended for two years with 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days, an eight month curfew and a GPS monitoring tag. Mr Ross, mitigating, said his client had sorted accommodation near Trowbridge police station and had an offer of employment. Boydell, of Heather Shaw, Trowbridge, but appearing in court via video link from HMP Bristol, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching his sex offender notification requirements. He remains on the sex offenders’ register until 2023.