A double amputee pensioner spared prison for sex chats with who he thought was a 12-year-old girl has been jailed for having a secret phone.
As we reported in 2019, Raymond Straughan invited the "child", who turned out to be a decoy Facebook profile set up by vigilantes, to his home to meet his cats and said he wanted her to move in so they could have sex every night. He was given a suspended sentence for that and a sexual harm prevention order which meant he had to declare any internet enabled devices to police.
On March 11 last year, risk management officers attended 70-year-old Straughan's home and he was asked to provide all devices capable of being used to go online. Matthew Hopkins, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court : "The defendant gave officers a Samsung mobile phone and he confirmed it was his only internet enabled device. Officers became suspicious because the phone appeared to be in factory default state.
