JAIL FOR SEX OFFENDER JONATHAN JONES WHO ENTERED MULTI-STOREY CAR PARK IN SWANSEA
A sex offender banned from all multi-storey car parks has been jailed after being spotted entering one while carrying a can of petrol, Swansea Crown Court heard.Jonathan Michael Jones, age 36, has a lifelong ban from entering any covered car park after sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy who was waiting for his mother in a Swansea city centre multi-storey parking facility.
A witness who knew Jones saw him walking into the car park with a can of petrol and contacted police, suspecting he intended to sniff the fuel.
The court was told that in 2005, Jones was sentenced to 42 months in prison and placed under an indefinite sexual offences protection order after abusing a young boy.
Prosecutor Helen Randall explained that Jones had approached a 12-year-old boy waiting for his mother in a multi-storey car park, pushed him into an elevator, and sexually assaulted him by putting his hands down the boy’s trousers and kissing him.
In addition to his prison sentence, Jones was subject to a sexual offences protection order that included several conditions, notably a prohibition on entering covered car parks and an ban on seeking contact with or associating with males under 18.
The court heard that police first looked into Jones’s activities in May 2019 after reports of a sexual assault involving a teenager.
Although no charges resulted, Jones admitted to being at his home with a 17-year-old boy and other men, consuming alcohol and smoking cannabis.
Jones's name came again to police attention on November 24 of the same year when a man observed him entering the multi-storey car park linking The Strand and High Street railway station while carrying petrol.
Believing Jones was planning to sniff the fuel, the witness called 999.
When arrested, Jones told officers he used the car park as a shortcut to his nephew’s house.
He resides on Woodford Road, Blaenymaes, Swansea.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching his sexual offences protection order.
The court noted that Jones has 14 previous convictions involving 26 offences, including the sexual assault on the 12-year-old boy.
Defense representative David Singh stated that Jones claimed he was only taking the petrol to his brother, whose vehicle was out of fuel.
Singh also mentioned that Jones has been diagnosed with mild learning difficulties.
Judge Paul Thomas QC called Jones’s violations of the order “flagrant” and commented that he had deliberately done things he knew he was prohibited from doing.
Acknowledging the guilty pleas, the judge sentenced Jones to a total of 12 months in prison, with 10 months for the contact with the teenager and two months for entering the car park.
He will serve up to half his sentence in custody before being released on license to complete the remainder while in the community.
