A sex offender who was placed indefinitely on an order to protect young girls has avoided being sent to prison after failing to tell police that he was staying at different places for more than seven days.

Judge Niclas Parry described 67-year-old Richard Roe's attitude towards his sexual harm prevention order as "very casual, if not cavalier" when he appeared before Mold Crown Court on Wednesday, June 19.

Roe, who lives between Pen-y-bont and Llansilin in north Powys, pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders register.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and given an indefinite order in April 2015 for gross indecency and indecent assault of a child under 14 between 1998 and 2001.

The pensioner was back in the crown court after admitting that he had stayed in a touring caravan in Talybont near Barmouth on numerous weekends between March and May 2022. The court was told that the family of a seven-year-old girl was unaware of Roe's conviction but there had been no unsupervised contact.

Roe also admitted staying two to three times a week at his former partner's house in Wrexham between January 2022 and the end of July 2022 before the relationship ended when she found out his conviction for sex offences.

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He also pleaded guilty to opening a HSBC bank account without telling police which he would use for petrol, shopping and cash withdrawals.

Thomas Mcloughlin, acting on behalf of Roe, said his client had "simply miscounted" the days, to which the judge replied "he was found out because women found out he had been misleading them".

Mr Mcloughlin added: "Mr Roe is a man who understands that what he’s done is wrong and wants, your honour, to work with probation to understand and realise the harm caused and can cause in some cases."

Sentencing Roe to 10 months in prison but suspending it for 18 months, Judge Parry said: "I’m afraid you had a very casual if not cavalier attitude to one aspect of the sentence.

"It is very serious, and it all has to do with protecting young females. That’s why the authorities want to know where you are.

"Your whereabouts were unknown and lo and behold there was a young female there. Her mother hadn’t been told about your conviction, so it created a real risk."

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The judge added: "I take into consideration that nearly two years has passed and there is no suggestion of any offence since which may suggest that the penny has dropped.

"This your first breach in nine years. There are stabilising features in your life.

"I’m satisfied that there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, and the public are far better served with a sentence in the community than nothing having been done in prison."

Roe must wear an electronic tag for two months and ordered to complete 25 rehabilitation requirement days and pay £250 prosecution costs.

"Don't do this again," the judge said before Roe left the dock.