Locations
Biddulph Road, Horton, ST13
Description
A sex offender who previously made ‘lewd and obscene suggestions’ to police officers posing as teenage schoolgirls online has appeared back in court.
Steven Beswick was convicted in October 2019 of three offences of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child after he claimed to be aged 17 and asked the 'girls' for photos.
He was sentenced to a two-year community order and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for five years. One of the prohibitions was that he was not allowed to delete his internet usage or search history.
But Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard police discovered 54-year-old Beswick, who works on the family farm at Rudyard, near Leek, deleted Facebook messages and his internet history. In a prepared statement the defendant admitted deleting messages he had with someone on Facebook and accepted that was in breach of the SHPO.
Beswick, of Biddulph Road, Horton, pleaded guilty to breaching a SHPO. Edmund Potts, mitigating, said Bewsick understands how serious his offending was.
Mr Potts said: "He understands he has made the job of those who have to supervise him in the community more difficult. He is frustrated with himself at having brought himself before the court again. That remorse is reflected in his guilty plea.
"He has taken steps to address his offending behaviour. He no longer has a phone. He does not want to put himself in that position again. His previous supervision compliance was excellent. He is somebody they could work with fruitfully into the future."
Mr Potts added that there was a realistic prospect of Beswick being rehabilitated. Judge Graeme Smith sentenced Beswick to an 18-month community order with a rehabilitation activity requirement for 20 days. He was fined £200.
Judge Smith told Beswick: "You deliberately deleted the messages. You may not have understood that in doing so you were breaching the order. You complied fully with the previous order made by the court. Your compliance has been described as being excellent."