A FORMER Monkton man has been sentenced to jail for offences he committed only five days after completing his previous prison sentence.
Anthony Coombes, previously of Colley Court, Monkton, currently of no fixed abode, was released from prison on licence on October 13, 2022.
Within five days of his release, Coombes breached the terms of his sexual harm prevention order.
The judge heard that Coombes was convicted in October 2021 of engaging in sexual communication with a child, as well as possessing sexual images.
Coombes had been caught by a paedophile hunter group after he was caught messaging two decoy accounts he believed were young girls.
He had also posted to social media asking for “really young” children to “hit me up, I’m into that stuff.”
Coombes was also found to be in possession of two category C images.
He received a suspended prison sentence and made the subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
He was sentenced to eight months in prison earlier this year for violating the SHPO, with 10 months of his suspended sentence activated consecutively.
He was in possession of an internet enabled device, on which he had wiped his internet history, installed a phone cleaner, and created an email account under a different name.
The SHPO prohibited him from wiping his browsing history or creating email accounts in a name other than his own.
On October 13 this year, Coombes was released from prison on licence. He was required to report to a police station weekly as he was of no fixed abode. He appeared on October 20, but failed to report to a station a week later.
The station contacted him and requested he attend. When he did, the officer asked him about internet enabled devices, which he had to report to police as part of the SHPO. He claimed he owned one mobile phone.
When his bag was checked, a second phone, the box and SIM card were discovered. They also found a message on the phone to a family member that said: ‘new number, don’t tell anyone.’
In a police interview with the police, Coombed said that he was unaware of the reporting requirements, that he had bought the second phone to play video games and that he had not erased anything from it.
He also said that he had forgotten to notify the police about the phone and that he was unaware that he was required to report to a police station on a weekly basis.
In mitigation, it was stated that he had pleaded guilty to both violations at the earliest opportunity, he had not wiped his browser history and that there was no evidence he had spoken to children.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said: “You were released in October on licence, yet five days after that you failed to attend the police station as required and bought a mobile phone.
“It is clear from your messages that you knew you shouldn’t have had that phone in your possession.
“Your record for a 23-year-old is a disturbing one.
“The only conclusion I can come to is your paedophilia is so entrenched that you are doing everything that you can to enable it.”
Judge Thomas sentenced Coombed to 22 months in jail for violating the SHPO, with an additional 16 months to run concurrently for violating the notice order. Coombes will serve half of his sentence before being released.
