Description
A paedophile who told a decoy posing as a 13-year-old girl that “age was just a number” has been jailed for breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
Stephen Vincent, 60, was given a two-year suspended sentence in February 2024 for attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming, after contacting the fake Facebook profile on New Year’s Eve 2022. He was also made subject to a 10-year SHPO.
He had already breached the order once in 2024 by failing to register a smart device with police within three days. That breach was uncovered after he made nuisance calls to Cleveland Fire Brigade; officers visiting his home found he had denied owning a phone, yet had just booked a taxi.
Vincent, formerly of Grosvenor Gardens, appeared via videolink from prison at Teesside Crown Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to a second breach.
A routine police visit on 10 February found a dating app open on his phone with messages sent under the unregistered alias “BigStephen60”. Officers also discovered evidence of several deleted dating apps, which he was banned from removing without permission from his offending manager. Deleted conversations could not be recovered.
Vincent, who has nine previous convictions for 21 offences, was sentenced to 12 months in prison by Judge Andrew Hatton.