August 2019 Registered sex offender found with more indecent images of children given suspended sentence A man who was placed on the Sex Offenders Register after being found in possession of indecent images of children has been caught with further indecent images. Mel Simpkins (23) was visited on December 16 last year by officers from the north-based Public Protection Unit (PPU) as part of a routine check on registered sex offenders who are managed by the unit. On this visit to Simpkins’ home five files were found in the Recycle Bin of Simpkins’ computer – deleting internet history is a direct breach of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). One of these files was deemed to be an indecent image of a child. Simpkins was placed on the Sex Offenders Register in 2017 after being convicted of possessing indecent images of children. DC Jim Howard, from the northern PPU, said: “All registered sex offenders in our county are allocated to a member of our PPU team to be monitored. Part of this includes carrying out unannounced visits at their home address, accessing their electronic devices and speaking with them about their daily activity.” On further investigation it was found Simpkins had deleted other content from his laptop, including four indecent images and had also used alias names, which was a breach of the notification requirements of being on the Sex Offenders Register. DC Howard added: “These requirements are in place to protect children and that is why we visit them so regularly to prevent reoffending.” Simpkins, of Eastwood Avenue, Wimblington, March, pleaded guilty to possession of an indecent image of a child, breaching his SHPO and failing to comply with the notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Register. He was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years. May 2017 Community order for Telford sex offender caught with indecent images A sex offender who was caught with more than 100 indecent images of children has been sentenced to a three-year community order Mel Robert Simpkins, 20, had previously admitted to making indecent images of children, including possession of a prohibited image, all in the most serious categories of offences on dates between July, 2014 and August last year. He also admitted an act of outraging public decency relating to his behaviour in a shop in the town on September 14 last year. And admitted being in breach of a Sexual Harm Prohibition Order made at court on July 11, 2014 in relation to previous offences. In addition to the three-year community order Simpkins, of Wrockwardine Road, Wellington, was also ordered to attend an intensive sexual offender group programme with a requirement to attend 60 rehabilitation days. His five-year sex offenders’ order was further extended to an additional five years at Shrewsbury Crown Court. Judge Jim Tindal told the court that despite efforts to get Simpkins assessed by the NHS mental health services he had no alternative, but to sentence him to work with probation staff. “I expect you to cooperate with probation.You seem to have a problem with offending in this way. You keep coming back before the court and I need to give you this warning,” Judge Tindal said. “There will come a point when the court will take the view that no order will prevent you from carrying out such offences and that you pose a dangerous risk to the public.”