A serial sex offender twice breached a strict court order by parking too close to a children’s playpark and speaking to teenage staff at the Fife hotel in which he worked.
David Powell has a track record for breaching the conditions of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) imposed on him at Liverpool Crown Court in 2007.
It came into force after he was convicted of carrying out a sex act in front of two nine-year-old girls in a Liverpool park that year.
The 40-year-old appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court from custody this week to plead guilty to two charges of breaching the SOPO.
Between November 10 and 20 last year he obtained employment at a Glenrothes hotel where staff members and patrons were aged 17 or under and he communicated with two underage female employees.
The SOPO states he must not work in an environment which would bring him into contact with, or he must not communicate with, people aged 17 or under without police permission.
Playpark breach
On March 31 last year at Beath View, Dunfermline, he entered a property located within 100 metres of a children’s play area, something else he cannot do without police permission.
Prosecutor Douglas Thomson told the court Powell had parked his car next to his girlfriend’s house and within 20 metres of a playpark.
The fiscal depute said according to police, who were looking for him as part of inquiries into another matter, the playpark was in “open view”.
Mr Thomson said police saw him exit the car and spoke to him.
Asked by Sheriff Krista Johnston to clarify Powell was not sitting in a car looking towards the playpark, the fiscal replied: “No, he just drove to the area where the playpark was”.
In relation to the other breach, the fiscal said Powell spoke to both hotel employees and sent a social media friend request to one of them.
“She, given the age gap, was concerned.
“She carried out an investigation online and discovered his history and reported the matter to police.”
‘Just wanted a job’
Defence lawyer Nick Whelan said there was nothing nefarious in Powell’s activities and the friend request was innocuous as staff had been sending requests to each other.
The solicitor said there were no concerns about his behaviour in the hotel while he was working.
Mr Whelan said: “He tells me he just wants to have a normal life and get a job.
“He had been unemployed and was checking round hotels.
“There was a job in a kitchen and he naively thought he would not come into contact with young people but did.
“The hope was to get a job, not commit further offences.”
The court heard Powell is already serving a three-year prison sentence for breaching the SOPO, with an earliest release date of August 5 next year.
Mr Whelan said his client was jailed because, employed as a takeaway driver, “a couple of customers came in who were young”.
The lawyer said there are 18 separate SOPO conditions and that it is a “fairly onerous regime”.
Sheriff Johnston responded: “He does not seem to have got the hang of it.”
Jailed
Mr Whelan said the last time Powell committed an offence of a sexual nature was 2010 and most of the offences since have been SOPO breaches – “primarily getting on trains when he is not allowed to”.
Mr Whelan said his client ultimately wants to have the SOPO relaxed so he can return to Liverpool and find a job.
Sheriff Johnston told Powell: “In respect of these two breaches I accept they were short-lived and limited to particular circumstances on each occasion and I accept no associated offending.
“The underlying breach does not, on the face of it, appear to have been with nefarious intent”.
The sheriff jailed Powell for 23 months.
She said this would not affect Powell’s existing earliest release date.
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