May 2013 Paedophile lovers were at party attended by 20 children Lovers STUART Jephcote and Brian Pendred may have appeared to be two locals doing a good turn for the people in their community, they befriended neighbours who were unaware of their past convictions for sex offences involving children They joined a residents’ committee four years ago in Southchurch Court – a high-rise block of flats where they lived in Clifton. But Jephcote had a series of convictions for sex offences on children, including a gross act of indecency on a child, attempting to have sex with a girl and three indecent assaults on boys. Residents were unaware of his background or that both men were convicted of possessing six images of child abuse last year. Georgina Wyer, 66, chair of the Southchurch Court Committee, said: “They were on the committee when I arrived about four years ago. It makes me feel sick – we don’t want them back in the flats.” Linda Siddell, 50, vice-chair of the committee, said: “Our young people have been let down. “You take people at face value – we trusted them.” The men were subject to a court order called a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which banned them from living with or communicating with a person under the age of 16 or taking their photo. The restrictions extended to their activities near schools and nurseries, primary schools, playgrounds and recreational areas. But Nottingham Crown Court heard Jephcote and his partner Pendred repeatedly flouted the terms of the order. They had in their possession photographs of children who attended a Diamond Jubilee fête in the summer of 2012. Jephcote had arranged the music and taken photos of the event organised by the residents’ association, and Pendred handed out sweets. By September last year they were babysitting an 11-year-old boy in their home, going on bike rides with him and had bought him a computer game. Last Christmas the men helped organise a party in a community room, attended by 20 children under the age of 16. Jephcote had taken pictures of the children and 48-year-old Pendred was described as being “very involved in the event,” said prosecutor James Hett. Police made a routine visit to their home on January 27 and seized a computer and a memory stick. Internet searches had been made for “boy sex”, “Harry Potter sex” and “gay boy sex school”. Detectives returned to their home the following day and discovered the men had three more computers. One of those had seven indecent photos of children stored on it. Jephcote, 47, admitted three charges of making indecent photos and one of possessing them. The men admitted five identical breaches each of their SOPOs. Judge Michael Stokes QC sentenced the men to three years in prison each. Jephcote received nine months concurrent for possessing child porn. The judge said the offences demonstrated that the degree of monitoring was inadequate. “You are both of low intellect. But the fact remains that I have no doubt at all that both of you fully understood what you were not to do in relation to young children, in particular boys under the age of 16.” After the case, a police spokesman said: “Mr Jephcote and Mr Pendred had withheld information from police and probation offender managers. “Despite this, proactive police work from officers of the DPMU (Dangerous Persons Management Unit) brought to light breaches of their SOPOs and further offences of indecent images of children in Mr Jephcote’s case.”