A convicted paedophile appeared in court after breaching the terms of his suspended sentence.
Matthew Tipping, 39, of Harrisons Terrace, Ellesmere Port, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday for missing an appointment with probation and failing to provide an adequate reason why. The 39-year-old was handed 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years after admitting to attempting sexual communications with a child in August 2022.
As part of that order, he was told to complete a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement, and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and a notification requirement lasting the same period were implemented. On Wednesday, Cheryl Mottram, prosecuting, detailed that Tipping failed to attend an appointment on December 28 of last year, but has since attended three further appointments.
READ MORE: Paedophile sent 'teenage girl' picture of his bum
She said the horizon programme for sex offenders which Tipping was due to enrol on was delayed due to issues out of the defendant's control. Martyn Walsh, defending, said that since this one missed appointment, Tipping has re-engaged fully with probation.
A court previously heard Tipping had sent a string of lewd messages to a 'teenager' over the course of nearly two months, including a picture of his bum. But, unbeknown to him, he was actually being ensnared in a paedophile hunter sting.
On December 8, 2021, Tipping messaged the decoy profile and was immediately informed of her supposed age, initially apologising and stating he "didn't realise". But he "persisted with the conversation", despite also being told she was autistic and a carer for her nine-year-old sister.
The pervert "told her she was pretty" and said he "bet she had lots of males chatting her up". When the teen told Tipping she had a cold he instructed her to "rub Vicks into her chest", which he asked for a picture of.
He then suggested that they should have a video call together, and stated that he "wished she was older" and "asked if it was bad". Tipping then sent a photograph of himself lying in bed without a top on and told her he "wished he had her as his girlfriend".
Prior to that offence, Tipping had also previously been jailed for a year in July 2021 after what was described as a "brazen, professional, broad daylight theft" of two diggers worth £42,000. The Volvo 360 excavator and Takeuchi microdigger were taken from Kinmel Bay and Rhyl in North Wales respectively.
His Honour Judge Garrett Byrne amended the suspended sentence and ordered Tipping to complete a further forty hours of unpaid work. He said: “If you carry on breaching it you will eventually end up going to prison.”
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