RICHARD KAVANAGH, WORCESTER SEX OFFENDER, SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON

In March 2011, Richard Kavanagh, a 41-year-old sexual predator residing at a hostel on Ombersley Road in Worcester, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison after a four-day trial at Worcester Crown Court. Judge Alistair McCreath described him as a "sexually very dangerous man."

Kavanagh denied allegations that he had exposed his private parts to two children and claimed he had not violated the terms of a sexual offences prevention order. The jury took two hours to find him guilty.

His sentencing considered past convictions, including a sexual assault against a teenage girl in 1997 when he caressed her thigh while she sat on a park bench. He also breached a sexual offences prevention order issued in 2009.

The judge highlighted Kavanagh's extensive history of sexual offending, noting that this had led to lengthy prison sentences. While he was given a community order in 2007, this was eventually breached.

The incident in Worcester in June of the previous year involved upsetting and predatory behavior. Kavanagh waited on four consecutive days during school holidays for children on fishing trips—specifically a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy—and sat on a wall along the towpath near Lower Chestnut Street. He attracted their attention, sat there, then dropped his trousers in front of them.

Prosecutor Jason Pegg described the scene: "Kavanagh stared at the girl and told her that she was beautiful and had a nice smile. He gave his correct date of birth, and the children described a tattoo of the Irish red, white, and green tricolour on his hand to the police."

Judge McCreath expressed concern that Kavanagh had deliberately waited for the children, knowing it was school holidays and they would be fishing. "This was predatory so he could contact children and do who knows what," he said.

The breach of the sexual offences prevention order was flagrant, and the court ordered its continuation. Kavanagh's time in custody—276 days—was deducted from his sentence.

Defense attorney Peter Cook explained that Kavanagh, an Irish national, had faced personal trauma in recent years, including the death of his partner from cancer. "This was the trigger for his offense in 2007," he said, emphasizing that Kavanagh had completed his community order until additional issues arose in 2009.

Separately, in April 2007, Kavanagh was classified as a high-risk sex offender and released from prison. He previously admitted to groping an 11-year-old girl on a Worcester towpath, and had convictions in Ireland, including an attempted rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1997 and two other indecent assaults. He also faced allegations of attempted abduction involving a boy at Worcester's CrownGate shopping center.

Kavanagh, then 37, had served eight months on remand before release. Judge Andrew Geddes noted that Kavanagh posed a "propensity for serious harm to children" based on a multi-agency public protection panel and a pre-sentence report that indicated a "very high risk" of sexual harm if unsupervised or intoxicated. Nonetheless, he concluded that, given proper management, the risk could be mitigated.

Kavanagh was placed under a three-year community order with supervision and residence restrictions for six months, plus a sex offences prevention order prohibiting contact with under-16s, and was mandated to register as a sex offender for five years.

However, Judge Geddes expressed concerns regarding supervision limitations, noting that Kavanagh could not be monitored 24/7. Kavanagh admitted to sexually assaulting a girl last year when he touched her leg after pretending there was a wasp nearby. He was detained in August following his quick arrest.

Defense solicitor Nigel Stelling argued that Kavanagh's involvement in the escalator incident was misrepresented, claiming he only helped steady a boy and was cleared of attempted abduction. Stelling also stated that Kavanagh had served his time for the earlier groping incident.

The court warned Kavanagh that any future sex offenses involving children would result in severe penalties.