KEIR DEAN SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS IN PRISON IN BIRCHWOOD FOR BREACHING COURT ORDER
A sex offender has been returned to prison after violating his court-imposed sexual harm prevention order for the second time, less than a year after his previous release.Keir Dean, 24, who had prior convictions related to sexual activity with a child, was barred from possessing mobile phones capable of storing digital images.
However, police found three such devices at an address where he was present.
Dean was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court via video link from HMP Altcourse on charges of breaching his sexual harm prevention order and possessing cannabis.
Prosecutor Nardeen Nemat explained that police discovered two iPhones and one Samsung phone during their visit, but found no incriminating content on the devices.
Dean was placed under a 10-year sexual harm prevention order in July 2018 after being convicted of two offenses involving sexual activity with a child.
The court was told that he broke this order in July 2019 by sending Snapchat messages via a mobile phone, resulting in a two-year prison sentence handed down in March 2020.
He was released in March 2021.
When police attended his address on September 20 of that year, they found him in possession of two bags of cannabis.
Initially, Dean claimed he had no phones, but officers discovered three devices, including a Samsung phone with messages sent by him.
During questioning, he claimed he was unaware of the ownership of two iPhones and said the Samsung belonged to a relative who had lent it to him days earlier.
Ms.
Nemat highlighted that this was a deliberate breach of the order for a second time and noted that this marked Dean’s sixth court appearance.
Defence solicitor Zahra Baqri stated, 'The best mitigation I can offer is that he pleaded guilty at the first hearing.
I ask that he be given full credit for his guilty pleas and for the shortest sentence consistent with your duty.' Before sentencing, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones remarked, 'This is the second time you have appeared before the court for breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
You were released in 2021, and within months, you were found with three mobile phones capable of storing images, further breaching your order.
Although no incriminating material was found when the phones were examined, your previous offences pose a serious risk of harm if you use such devices without notifying authorities.' Dean, of Heather Close in Birchwood, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
An order was also made for the forfeiture and destruction of the mobile phones and cannabis.
