Mansfield sex offender lied to new partner about child porn conviction

Dayce Roberts admitted possessing 425 category A, 36 category B and 59 category C indecent images and videos, as well as 107 extreme pornographic images, in January this year.

Gregor Purcell, prosecuting at Nottingham Crown Court, said Roberts kept rearranged meetings at his home, claiming he had Covid and back pain, and this made his probation officer suspicious.

When officers paid an unannounced visit on August 2, Roberts’s ex-partner told them he had moved out and it later emerged he had moved in with another woman in March.

The court heard he breached the terms of his court orders by failing to notify police of his new address. or that he was resident in a property with two children.

Mr Purcell said that, after he was sentenced in January, Roberts denied a sexual interest in children.

“What is clear is his attitude and deceit extended to his new partner,” he added.

Roberts told her he was on the sex offenders’ register, but minimised his culpability by saying he only bought a hard drive from someone else.

The offences were aggravated because there was ‘a determined attempt to deceive’, a risk because children were present and the deception went on for four months.

Roberts, aged 27, formerly of Harrington Street, Mansfield, admitted breaching a community order and two counts of failing to notify police.

Emma Coverley, mitigating, said he deserved credit for his early guilty pleas at the magistrates' and Crown courts.

She said he was ordered to carry out 54 rehabilitation days, but had not yet started a programme for sex offenders because of the waiting list.

She said: “He accepts he should have confirmed his position with the police.

“He did make some disclosure to the homeowner - it wasn't a wholesale deceit of her.

“There is no suggestion that he has had unsupervised contact with the children. He has been on remand for four weeks. It's his first experience of custody.”

Judge John Sampson jailed him for 21 months and placed him on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.