An "extremely dangerous" paedophile who was found in possession of indecent images of children breached a court order by messaging young boys on Instagram. He also messaged boys asking for pictures.
Owen David, 30, of Barry, was previously sent to prison in 2020 after he attempted to meet a child following grooming and for possessing images of child abuse. As a result of these convictions he was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) which prevented him from having contact with children.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard David's electronic devices were regularly monitored by a probation worker. On June 6 last year the probation worker viewed the defendant's Instagram account which was found to be following 60 accounts belonging to young boys.
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Prosecutor Jeffrey Jones said David had also sent a message to one boy which read "DM for pics", which was interpreted as a request for images. An offender manager obtained a password for the defendant's account and saw he was following an account for a 15-year-old boy but as he viewed these accounts they were being deleted.
David, now of HMP Parc, was arrested the following day and an Alcatel phone was seized. Two "borderline" images of children were discovered but the most concerning was an image of a boy between eight and 10 years old exposing his hip, which was considered a category C image.
David initially denied any wrongdoing but later pleaded guilty to breaching a SHPO and making an indecent image. The court heard David was sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2020 and a further 18 months imprisonment the same year. At the time of the current offence he was subject to a 10-year SHPO.
In mitigation Martha Smith-Higgins said her client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and was "candid" about his sexual interest in children. She said he also told police about the indecent images and told them where they could find it on his device.
Sentencing, Judge Daniel Williams said: "You have a terrible record in relation to child sexual offences. It's clear from everything I have heard about you – you are extremely dangerous. This is a serious breach of the SHPO."
David was sentenced to a total of three years and two months imprisonment. He was made subject to a new SHPO and sex offender notification requirements which will last for life.
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