March 2011

Kendal paedophile has indefinate sentence cut after winning appeal

A PAEDOPHILE, jailed indefinitely after trying to lure young victims into his web via Facebook, has been freed after winning an appeal against his open-ended sentence.

Steven Neil Dawson was put behind bars indefinitely for public protection – which is almost identical to a life term – at Carlisle Crown Court in July 2009 after he pleaded guilty to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Dawson, 30, of Crag View, Kendal, also admitted breaching a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) and a suspended sentence imposed for a previous offence – by chatting to young girls on the social networking site.

Top judges, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, today said he should not have been given the indefinite jail term and replaced it with a conventional, three-year, sentence – effectively freeing him immediately.

The court heard Dawson first came to the attention of police after making suggestive comments to a 12-year-old girl he contacted on the internet in 2006.

For that offence, he was given a suspended sentence and put on a SOPO – which banned him from making any further online contact with youngsters for 10 years.

But, ignoring those conditions, Dawson contacted a 15-year-old girl through Facebook and sent her text messages in early 2009.

Lord Justice Richards told the court his texts became steadily “more suggestive”, with Dawson proposing sexual activity and asking to meet the teenager.

A month after that, he again breached the court orders, sending messages to a 13-year-old girl through Facebook and “adding her as a friend”.

The court heard there was also evidence to suggest he had tried to contact another teenager on the website.

A probation officer and a psychiatrist concluded there was a “high risk” he would re-offend, which could not be “safely managed” in the community.

However, allowing the appeal, Lord Justice Richards said the indefinite jail term – reserved for “dangerous” offenders – was “wrong in principle” and it was “not open” to the court to pass any sentence other than a conventional one.

The judge, sitting with Mr Justice Eady and Mr Justice Holroyde, said the 10-year SOPO will remain in place and also banned Dawson from working with children.