Locations
Nantyffyllon, Maesteg, Bridgend, CF34
Description
Mark Jones, 63, of Nantyffyllon, Maesteg, jailed for 22 months after eight SHPO breaches
A convicted child sex offender from Maesteg has been jailed after breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order eight times.
Mark Jones, 63, of Nantyffyllon, received a suspended sentence in 2020 for possessing indecent images of children aged between six and 10. He was also made subject to an SHPO requiring him to keep his search history, notify police of every internet-capable device he owned, and not use private networks such as VPNs.
Cardiff Crown Court, sitting remotely at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, heard that Jones breached the order eight times between April and June this year.
Prosecutor Hartej Saund-Matharu said that on 22 April police found Jones “agitated, doing up his jeans and his belt”. An officer established that 24 minutes earlier Jones had made a forbidden search on one of his devices.
Device history showed he had accessed numerous porn sites using VPNs and private browsers. On his phone, porn sites and live video chats were open and the VPN was still running while the officer was in the room.
Jones was also found with a phone police did not know about. He said a “friend” had given it to him and admitted using it without telling anyone. Search history showed he had accessed a Gmail account and tried to recover a Facebook account.
He was arrested and released on bail, then breached the SHPO a further three times.
Defending, Adam Sharp said there was no evidence that indecent images had been accessed on any seized device. He said Jones has “struggled with his mental health and is taking antidepressants” and “has suffered panic attacks during his time in custody.”
On Jones’s background, Mr Sharp said:
“His father died when he was young and his mother was diagnosed with dementia. He was her carer until she died in 2018.
“He has no relationship and no living family. He lives an isolated existence, compounded by his 2020 conviction.”
Mr Sharp asked Recorder Paul Lewis KC to suspend the sentence, noting Jones had already spent 90 days in custody and that this was his first series of breaches since the 2020 conviction.
Recorder Lewis refused, saying he would be doing a disservice to the public if he suspended the sentence. He told Jones he did not accept his denial that the breaches were sexually motivated.
Jones was sentenced to 22 months in custody and ordered to pay an £187 statutory surcharge within six months of release.
Recorder Lewis said:
“If I could have extended the Sexual Harm Prevention Order I would have done so, but for whatever reason I do not have the power within the remits of the law.”