JOSHUA DE BANKS SENTENCED IN OXFORD FOR SECOND OFFENCE INVOLVING UNAUTHORIZED FACEBOOK ACCOUNT
A convicted sex offender has been sent back to prison in Oxford after being caught with an unapproved Facebook account.Joshua De Banks, 25, who was first convicted in 2019 for exchanging sexually explicit messages with a teenage boy, appeared at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday, April 16, facing three counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
It was revealed that despite previous convictions and jail time, De Banks, who was released from a two-year prison sentence earlier this year, maintained a second Facebook account that was not approved by authorities.
Additionally, he had tampered with a safety application installed on his phone by police.
De Banks had been using an alias, ‘Zack Fields,’ on Facebook—an account approved after an application to amend his SHPO was accepted in 2022.
He explained that he created the second account because he had been locked out of his original.
Judge Michael Gledhill sentenced him to 16 months in prison, remarking, “You got away pretty lightly on this occasion.
If you carry on like this you will spend the rest of your life in prison.
You’ve got to get your act together.” Previously residing on Field Avenue, Oxford, De Banks was initially subjected to the SHPO in 2019 after he solicited sex from a 15-year-old boy, who was so traumatized that he later overdosed on paracetamol.
In May 2022, De Banks received a two-year sentence after multiple violations of his SHPO, which included using library computers and a friend's phone to access WhatsApp and emails.
He also acquired a smartphone—found beneath his oven—that he failed to register with police.
In September 2022, he sought to amend his SHPO to use the alias ‘Zack Fields,’ which was approved.
Following his release in January, he was given his phone back, equipped with the safety software.
However, within weeks, his mother reported the second Facebook account to police.
The third breach involved him using his phone after he had modified the safety software.
Defense lawyer Henry Dickson, representing De Banks now living on Hughendon Road, High Wycombe, stated that after release, his client was homeless and living in Newcastle.
He had turned to alcohol, which contributed to the breaches.
Dickson said, “He accepts entirely that this is his responsibility.
Whatever the circumstances, how sad or difficult they may be, he accepts he has failed to comply with the order.” It was noted that De Banks, who has been on suicide watch in prison, is unsure how the safety software was altered.
