Convicted sex-offender jailed after breaching banning order

A convicted sex offender who was filmed with a three-year-old boy at a party in Warrington, despite being banned from such contact, has been jailed.

Adam Blyth was caught on CCTV at a party in Burtonwood Community Centre in Warrington in the company of the child and a woman with whom Blyth was in a relationship.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that they had arrived at the party in the same vehicle despite social services having visited the woman on an earlier occasion to ensure she knew about the restrictions he faced.

On that earlier occasion, on July 31 last year, Blyth was not present but the woman confirmed she knew about his status under the terms of Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
Andrew Jebb, prosecuting, said that had been imposed in April 2014, when Blyth was 15, which prohibited him from contact with any child under 14 without the supervision of an adult approved by social services.
The ten-year order had been imposed when Blyth was convicted of five serious child sex offences at Chester Crown Court.

Four days after that social services visit both voluntarily went to St Helens police station as he was aware they were looking for him. He was arrested as a photograph had emerged of him sitting on a train with a three-year-old child.
Mr Jebb said that the latest offence involving being at the party in the company of a child took place on August 20 this year while on bail for the earlier offence.
Blyth, 24, of Grasmere Fold, St Helens, pleaded guilty to two offences of breaching the SOPO. The court heard that he had breached it on two previous occasions in 2017 and 2018.

Sarah Griffin, defending, said that the defendant had been in custody since his arrest. She pointed out that he had clearly been with someone else on the train when the photograph was taken in June last year as both his hands and those of the boy could be seen.
He has drink and drug issues and these along with his mental health would benefit from probation assistance, she said.
Jailing him for 22 months Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said, “One is led to query the extent to which you felt the order had no restriction on you and what you were allowed to do.
“You were fully aware of the terms and it is clearly a case of deliberate disregard for the provisions of the order.”