A man, Gary Sheridan, who violated the terms of a prior sentence by concealing an internet-enabled phone from law enforcement has received additional incarceration.
Gary Sheridan, 36, received a 14-month prison sentence for violating his notice obligations and breaking a sexual harm prevention order.
In 2017, Gary Sheridan received a sentence of six years in jail for engaging in sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl while he was 27 years old.
Additionally, Gary Sheridan received a 42-week jail sentence in 2020 after pleading guilty to violating a sexual harm prevention order by contacting two boys under the age of 16, along with four counts of failing to adhere to the stipulations of the sex offender registry.
With regard to these proceedings, Gary Sheridan, of Church Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to breaching the terms of his notification requirements and breaching terms of his sexual harm prevention order.
Prosecuting at Burnley Crown Court, Stephen Parker, said in January 2023, officers visited Gary Sheridan at his home, and there were no issues as he handed over a phone which could not access the internet.
At the next visit on March 28, he informed them he had lost the phone previously given to the police, who then on May 4, were contacted by a witness to say she had been communicating with Gary Sheridan through Facebook and Snapchat since February.
For a while she was unaware of Gary Sheridan’s surname, as the Facebook profile was in the name of ‘Gary Gary’ and the Snapchat account did not display his full name either.
When she learned his real name, she searched it online and found out about his previous convictions, leading to her contacting the police.
A further search was conducted at Gary Sheridan’s flat and a police dog found a phone hidden away in a communal area of the property.
Mr Parker said Sheridan had panicked when he was informed the police were looking for him and he had admitted “it was a stupid thing to do.”
Mitigating, James Heyworth said: “This is the second time Gary Sheridan has disobeyed the court’s order and he understands there is a public interest in making it clear that breaching court orders are inevitably going to face sentences of immediate custody.
“He had not committed these offences through any inappropriate contact with children. He was trying to engage in a relationship with an adult female and he was worried she might find out (about his past).
“He understands he has nobody to blame but himself.”
Sentencing, Recorder David Temkin said: “You were convicted of serious sexual offending in March 2017. It was against a 13-year-old girl. I note you struck up a relationship in that case with her through Facebook.
“You were made subject of an order which prevents you from possessing any device with access to the internet unless you made the device available on request. You breached those orders in a serious way.
“On March 28 this year you misled the officer and told them you had no phone which was internet enabled.
“On May 5 you were visited by police and you tried to mislead them again by producing a non-internet enabled phone and telling them you did not have another device. Hidden behind an air vent was a phone you had kept from the police.
“It was said you have learnt from your mistakes. You clearly have not. These offences were committed fairly soon after your release from those offences. You have something of a history with disobedience towards court orders.”
Recorder Temkin sentenced Gary Sheridan to 10 months for the breach of notification requirements and four months for the breach of the sexual harm prevention order, to run consecutively, giving a total sentence of 14 months.
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