Pervert back behind bars after breaking court order on day of his prison release

John Farrow had been held on remand until he was given a suspended prison sentence in August at Durham Crown Court.

The Horden-grandfather had made contact with paedophile hunters posing as a 14-year-old girl on June 7, of this year and shared a number of sexually explicit messages with the decoy.

He pleaded guilty attempting to incite a child into sexual activity and engaging in sexual communication with a child.

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Judge Ray Singh handed Farrow a 16-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) banning him from unsupervised contact with anyone under 16 and a notification requirement to register his address with police.

John Farrow

However, Teesside Crown Court heard how immediately after his release the 61-year-old stayed at the house of the daughter of his former partner despite her teenager daughter being at home.

Andrew Finley, prosecuting, said: "When police visited the address he said he had nowhere else to stay as he just been released from prison, her 14-year-old daughter was at the house.

"The defendant was obviously there and he shouldn't have been and he was drunk at the time."

Mr Finley said Farrow then moved into a hotel but staff became suspicious of him and called police. It was at that point that they discovered he had bought a mobile phone and when the searched it they discovered his internet history had been deleted.

Farrow, of no fixed abode but formerly of Conyers Crescent, Horden, pleaded guilty to two breaches of his SHPO and a breach of his suspended sentence.

Jane Waugh, in mitigation, said he hadn't 'fully absorbed' the details of his order before his release from prison at 4.45pm in August 12 and struggled to read and write.

The judge, recorder Jonathan Sandiford jailed Farrow for two years for breaching both of the court orders.

He said: "You went to a house to stay where a 14-year-old child was living without telling the mother of that child or social services, who would have taken steps to prevent you staying there."