Rugby sex offender back behind bars after breaching court order

[dutchman]

More than two years after he had been jailed, a Rugby man said to have had ‘an unhealthy interest in young girls’ renewed contact with one of his victims – in breach of a court order



And a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard 25-year-old Joshua Ashby also breached the terms of his sex offender registration by staying at the home of a woman with two young daughters.

Ashby. of Newland Street, was jailed for 25 months after pleading guilty to breaching a sexual harm prevention order and failing to comply with his sex offender registration.

Both orders had been imposed in October 2015 when Ashby was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to four offences of inciting teenage girls to engage in sexual activity.

When sentenced in 2015, a restraining order was imposed banning him from having any contact with either girl.

But prosecutor Ian Windridge said that in January last year Ashby contacted his first victim, now aged 20, in breach of that order, telling her: “Hey, how are you hun? I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you.”

He then began sending her messages virtually every day, asking her where she was living now , what bra size she was, and for a naked photo and sexually explicit video.

Mr Windridge said the young woman eventually contacted the police.

As a result of the 2015 sentence, Ashby had to register as a sex offender – which had a number of requirements, including one that he notify the police if he was spending 12 hours or more at an address where any person under 18 was staying.

But in September last year he formed a relationship with a woman who had two daughters aged eight and 15, and, without revealing his conviction to her, began staying overnight at her home on a regular basis.

And in November, at a time when a 16-year-old girl was also staying at the address, he spent a whole weekend there without notifying the police.

The mother discovered his conviction when she carried out an internet search on him. She immediately contacted police.

When he was arrested, Ashby admitted that breach, but claimed he did not recall the girl had been included in the terms of the sexual harm prevention order.

Jonathan Coode, defending, suggested Ashby could be dealt with by concurrent sentences for the two offences – which was rejected by Judge Anthony Potter, who jailed him for 16 months in relation to his contact with the girl and nine months for the later offence.