April 2017 Judge jails ‘prolific and predatory paedophile’ from Hove A judge has jailed a Hove man described as “a prolific and predatory paedophile” for going into a leisure centre where there were children. Mark Jenks, also known as Mark Brown, had previously been jailed for trying to lure two 14-year-old girls into a sauna at the same leisure centre. On each occasion he was in breach of a court order and this time he was sent to prison for a total of five and a half years for a series of offences. His sentence included two years for breaching a sexual offences prevention order at the Sovereign Leisure Centre in Eastbourne. The order was made at Bournemouth Crown Court in 2009. Jenks, 63, of Brunswick Terrace, Hove, was jailed by Judge Charles Kemp at Lewes Crown Court on Monday (26 April). The court was told that he breached the sexual offences prevention order eight days before Christmas. He was also caught using a mobile phone at the wheel of a DFSK Loadhopper in Glynde in January when Sussex Police also found that he had cannabis with intent to supply. Jenks had been growing the class B drug and abstracting – or stealing – electricity at his seafront flat in Hove. On Monday he was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years. Jenks has more than 20 convictions for sex offences involving children – boys and girls – dating back to the 1970s. His previous offences include gross indecency with a young girl in the sauna at Southwick Leisure Centre in 1997. He was convicted of sex offences involving two young girls and, in the same year, indecently assaulting a boy and a girl on the beach at Southwick. He was jailed for two and six years respectively. Less than a year after he came out of prison in 2002 he was arrested for flashing at a couple of 13-year-olds at Camber Sands, near Hastings. Under the terms of an order made in 2004 he was banned from every swimming pool and leisure centre in the country. He was told that he couldn’t have any contact with anyone under 18 without police approval. Two years later at Hove Crown Court Judge Anthony Niblett jailed Jenks for three years for trying to lure the two girls into the sauna at the Sovereign Leisure Centre in Eastbourne. Judge Niblett told Jenks: “You are a prolific and predatory paedophile … I have no doubt that you are a continuing danger to children.” May 2006 Serial sex abuser jailed A predatory paedophile has been jailed for three years after he tried to lure teenage girls into a sauna. Mark Jenks has also been banned from every leisure centre or swimming pool in the country. Jenks, 52, of Brunswick Terrace, Hove, has committed more than 20 offences against young children since the Seventies. He was made the subject of a Sexual Offenders’ Prevention Order (Sopo) two years ago, Hove Crown Court heard yesterday. It banned him from having any contact with children under the age of 18 unless approved by police but he breached the order in February when he tried to lure the two 14-year-olds into a sauna at the Sovereign Leisure Centre in Eastbourne. Anne Toynbee, prosecuting, said Jenks had propped open the door to the sauna with a plastic bottle. She said: “He beckoned to the girls through the window and invited them in by saying, ‘come in, come in’.” Miss Toynbee said retired headmaster Jonathan Annis alerted centre staff after becoming suspicious about Jenks’ behaviour. He told them he had seen Jenks acting strangely during visits to the centre over the previous five weeks. Mrs Toynbee said: “He decided to watch Jenks closely and saw him spending prolonged periods around the family changing area of the pool. “At one stage Jenks began to walk away and then changed direction to follow the girls. He then went into the cubicle next to the girls but did not change.” After he was arrested, Jenks claimed it was the first time he had been to the Sovereign Centre for years. He said that because of the ban he had tried to find out which leisure centres only allowed adults into the saunas so that he could avoid contact with anyone under 18. He denied speaking to the two girls and claimed he had called out to two adults nearby to tell them to keep the girls away. Jenks also told officers he had gone to the family changing area to change his trunks because they were uncomfortable. He said he had done that to avoid coming into contact with young boys in the open-plan male changing area. Miss Toynbee said that Jenks was in breach of the Sopo by having contact with the girls. The court heard that Jenks was jailed for two years in 1997 for gross indecency with young girls. In one case he asked a girl to pour water over him in a sauna at Southwick Leisure Centre and then commited an indecent act in front of her. Jenks was also jailed for six years in 1997 for indecently assaulting a boy and a girl on Southwick beach. He was released on licence in 2002 but was rearrested less than a year later for indecently exposing himself in front of two 13-year-old girls at Camber Sands, near Rye. Jeffrey Lamb, defending, said Jenks realised that he has a problem and that he is taking part in a sex offenders’ programme. He had admitted breaching the Sopo to avoid putting the girls through the ordeal of having to give evidence. Jenks had previously been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and the Sopo remains in force until 2014. He is considered a Category 3 high risk offender and will be subject to supervision under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements when he is released from prison. Jailing him, Judge Anthony Niblett told Jenks: “You are a prolific and predatory paedophile. “I am satisfied that you were attempting to entice two young girls to join you in the sauna. This was a planned and pre-meditated attempt reflecting one of your earlier offences. “I have no doubt that you are a continuing danger to children.” He commended Mr Annis’s actions in alerting centre staff to the dangers Jenks posed saying it “prevented a serious offence from being committed”.