Kirkby sex offender jailed for breaching court orders

Justin Lawal was jailed for four years in 2015 for sexually assaulting a child and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) was imposed to ‘manage the risk you pose’, Judge Steven Coupland told him at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

Another SHPO was made in October last year banning him from owning computers or phones without informing police first, after Lawal breached the previous court order and he received an 18-month sentence, prosecutor Mark Knowles said.

Officers were tipped off by his housing provider that he had been seen using a laptop on April 19 but when social workers challenged him, Lawal denied it – although he admitted having a mobile phone.

When police went to his address on May 2, they detained him outside and found a phone on the ground by the front door. A laptop was found in his bag.

The phone contained chat messages with a woman aged 18, and TOR browser software – which deletes online activity – had been downloaded on April 17.

"The order was breached very quickly once he was released from custody,” said Mr Knowles.

He described it as a ‘deliberate breach’ with a starting point of one year in custody.

Chris Brewin, mitigating, said Lawal – who appeared by a video-link from HMP Nottingham – was recalled to custody as a consequence.

"He was in gainful employment,” he said. “He has a family and children. He understands that if he carries on down this path the sentences will get longer.

“I would simply ask Your Honour to keep the sentence to a minimum commensurate with Your Honour’s duties.”

He said that conditions in prison were more difficult as a result of Covid.

Lawal, 39, of Manor Crescent, Kirkby, admitted using a laptop and deleting data while prohibited by a sexual harm prevention order when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court, on May 4.

Judge Coupland said these were ‘serious and deliberate breaches’ and the defendant posed a ‘significant risk of other offences’.

He jailed Lawal for a total of 15 months and told him: “It has to be a custodial sentence – there is no other appropriate sentence.”

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