January 2014 Shepton Mallet convicted paedophile in court after writing self-help book A CONVICTED sex offender from Shepton Mallet, who started writing a self-help book on coping with stress, was arrested after penning his work under a different name, which he had not informed the police about. Somerset Magistrates heard that Rene Marcel Le Bretton had spent ten years behind bars for a number of sex offences and had been ordered to sign on the National Sex Offenders register for the rest of his life. When police investigators were alerted to the offence they approached the defendant and found he was writing under a pseudonym of John Ryder and told him he would have to register the new name. However despite repeated warnings the defendant refused to do so and accused the police of bullying and intimidating him. Le Bretton, aged 60, of Cowl Street, Shepton Mallet, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the notification requirements of a sex offender’s requirement in failing to register his pseudonym John Ryder on August 23 last year. Prosecutor Sam Jones said that Le Bretton had been convicted in 2002 of numerous sex offences at Truro Crown Court and sentenced to a term of ten years in prison and made subject to sex offender notification requirements for life. “As part of those conditions he had to notify the police if he changed his name and on July 30 last year he was arrested by investigating officers at his home in Shepton Mallet,” he said. “The defendant said he had written a book under the pseudonym of John Ryder and he was told he had to register that name and was given until August 9 to do so. “On August 6 he was sent a text message to remind him to register the name and the following day he replied saying “This is the third time you have threatened me with arrest and that is bullying and intimidation.” Le Bretton was then arrested and during interview he was told to register the name but said he had been diagnosed with early onset dementia. “However his consultant was spoken to and said that the defendant was showing signs of aged related memory deterioration but not dementia,” said Mr Jones. Defending solicitor Brian Carrick said that since Le Bretton’s release from prison in 2008 he had fulfilled his notification requirements. “He told the police he was in the process of writing a book with another person about the issues of stress,” he explained. “There is nothing sinister in writing a book that is not in your birth name as half the authors in the library do that. Many authors disguise their identity. “He never declared himself to the public that he was somebody who he was not. However he was given a warning and he was using a fake name according to the notification requirements.” He added that Le Bretton had played only a small part in writing the book along with the other author, and this offence had been his “first and only discretion”. The magistrates ordered that the case should be adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the probation service, after finding it had been a deliberate flouting of his requirements. They ordered the defendant to return to the court on February 10 and said that all sentencing options would be considered at the next hearing, including custody. Until his next court appearance Le Bretton was released on unconditional bail.