Locations
Kettering, Northamptonshire, NN1
Description
A 36-year-old man has been jailed after admitting breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and making indecent images of a child.
Mark Anthony Sinclair, formerly of Kettering, was issued a SHPO in January 2024 at Wood Green Crown Court after he was convicted of a sexual offence involving a child under 16.
The 10-year SHPO was issued with certain conditions he was required to abide by, including not deleting his internet history or having unsupervised contact or communication with any child under the age of 18.
However, in May last year, Sinclair engaged with someone who he believed to be a 12-year-old girl in an online chat room before moving the conversation on to a private messaging app.
What he didn’t realise, however, was the profile he was sending messages of a sexual nature to, was in fact a covert operation to safeguard and protect children from online predators.
Evidence of the SHPO breach was passed on to Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO team who arrested Sinclair on May 21. His mobile phone was seized which on further investigation was found to contain indecent images of children.
He was subsequently charged with one count of breaching his SHPO, one count of being an adult attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child as well as three counts of making indecent photographs/pseudo-photographs of a child.
And the next day (May 22) Sinclair appeared before Northampton Magistrates’ Court, where his case was transferred to Northampton Crown Court for trial, however on July 24, he pleaded guilty to all charges.
Last month (February 25) Sinclair returned to the same court for sentencing and was jailed for 44 months. He was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.
PC Holly Morgan-Humphrey from the Force’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT), who led the investigation, said:
“Mark Sinclair thought he was sending private messages of a sexual nature to an unknown 12-year-old girl he befriended in an online chat room.
“Although thankfully there was not a real child in this case, it does not lessen the seriousness of it at all as the content of his messages were not only extremely concerning but also showed a total disregard for the court order put in place to protect children from him.
“I hope this case reassures the public that we are working proactively to continue to keep children in Northamptonshire safe from online predators and to bring anyone who threatens that safety to justice.”