March 2021 Convicted sex offender, 57, caught living in same Stoke-on-Trent house as child Sex offender Peter Hodgson failed to tell police he was living in the same house as a child. The 57-year-old was jailed for four years in 1997 after being convicted of two offences of indecent assaulting a girl. As a result he was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely which has a number of conditions including he must notify the police within three days if he resides with a child for 12 hours or more. But the defendant failed to tell police a child related to his partner had been living with them for about a year. Now Hodgson has been handed an 18-month community order at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. Prosecutor Stuart Clarkson said the defendant completed his annual registration on April 8, 2020 and failed to disclose any change in his circumstances. Mr Clarkson said: “Police made an unannounced visit to the defendant’s home at 10.10am on October 11 and found a child in the address.” In his police interview the defendant made admissions and said he had ‘buried his head in the sand’. Hodgson, of Stoke Old Road, Hartshill, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders’ register. Scott Ashdown, mitigating, said the defendant is in employment. As part of the community order Hodgson must complete a rehabilitation activity requirement for 25 days and a three-month electronically-monitored curfew from 9pm to 5am