April 2014 Facebook groomer ‘forgot’ to sign sex offenders register A SEX offender who attacked a schoolgirl after grooming her on Facebook has received a suspended prison sentence for failing to tell police where he was. Kegan Cole, 22, was convicted of sexual activity with a child and was sentenced to a two-year community and supervision order in October 2012. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register, which requires him to sign on at a police station every year so he can be traced. But Hull Crown Court heard Cole failed to sign on as required at Beverley Police Station on November 7 last year, although he did nearly two weeks later. He was interviewed by police on a voluntary basis on December 31, when he admitted breaching the requirement, and told officers he “simply forgot”. But Judge Mark Bury called this a “bare-faced lie”, as Cole had been with his offender manager on November 7, who told him to report to police. Cole had earlier breached his community order, and was given “one further chance” by Judge Bury in a sentencing hearing in January. Geoff Ellis, defending, said: “This is a young man who has a number of difficulties. “He’s immature, lacking drive and motivation. He’s very, very afraid of custody being imposed today. “He has accessed the mental health team in the past couple of weeks because of fear of the potential outcome of a custodial sentence. There have been issues of self-harm recently and there are a great number of problems at home.” Judge Bury sentenced Cole to three months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and warned him if he appeared before him again he would be jailed. The judge said he was not sure how seriously Cole viewed the requirement to sign on the register and told him: “It’s a lawful requirement, which is in the public interest, that you notify the police of your whereabouts. “Because you did, ultimately, tell the police where you were within a few days of the requirement being activated, I’m not going to send you immediately to prison today. “But this is now the second failure – if there is a third, you will go to prison. Do you understand?” Cole replied: “Yes sir, I understand.” The judge said: “Any breach of this order is reserved to me and that means if I see you in that dock, you will go to prison. I can’t make it any clearer.” Cole, of Langdale Avenue, Beverley, assaulted a 15-year-old girl after luring her to a park in the town. He had befriended the girl and three of her friends just three weeks before the attack, which happened in Mudhill Park, near Wilberforce Crescent, close to St John’s Primary School, one evening in November 2011. The girl only managed to escape by kicking Cole in the face before running away. He chased her but she insisted she wanted nothing more to do with him. She told her friend, who was then contacted by Cole on Facebook the next day. The friend convinced Cole to confess to his attack, which he did, and the girl showed his online confession to police. Cole had claimed his victim had “done all the running”. Judge Bury decided not to jail him at the time because he had already served 12 months on remand.