Colchester man messaged teenage girls under 'various aliases'
He was found to have broken a Sexual Harm Prevention Order
A Colchester man who broke his Sexual Harm Prevention Order has been jailed.
Joe McCallum hid a smartphone from his monitoring team and had been communicating with teenage girls under different aliases.
The 32-year-old, of Destination Drive, admitted the four charges against him and got five years inside.
'A dangerous individual'
McCallum was due to come off the Sex Offenders Register in January 2020, however, his monitoring team realised that he posed an ongoing risk to children, and an application for a further Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) was made.
This was granted by the court and included restrictions on:
- his contact with girls under the age of 18
- his access to internet-enabled devices
- his use of social media.
However, in March – just two months later a vulnerable teenage girl was seen getting in to his car.
This was reported to the police and McCallum was stopped and arrested.
A search of his car revealed a phone he had concealed from his monitoring officers. When questioned by officers he admitted breaching the terms of his SHPO by communicating with a girl under the age of 18, having a smart phone which he had not notified police of, and using social media and dating apps.
He was later charged with four counts of breaching an interim sexual harm prevention order and remanded in custody.
The data from McCallum's mobile phones were analysed and this showed that he had been engaging in sexual communication with other teenage girls and breaching his SHPO using various aliases.
McCallum, who has remained in prison, admitted all the charges and on Thursday 11th March at Chelmsford Crown Court, was sentenced to five years in prison.
The investigation was carried out by our Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders team (MOSOVO).
This team of dedicated, specialist officers work to manage the risk serious sexual and violent offenders pose to the community.
This includes working with partner agencies to monitor and risk assess offenders prior to, and after, their release from prison to reduce the risk they pose to the public.
They carry out proactive checks to ensure the people they are managing are adhering to the terms of their release and use specialist equipment to identify any offences, including polygraphs.
Detective Inspector Nathan Hutchinson, who manages the MOSOVO team in the north of the county, said:
“Joe McCallum is a dangerous individual who poses a very real risk to children.
“He will now spend the foreseeable future behind bars where he cannot pose a threat.
“My team will continue to monitor and carry out regular, proactive checks on dangerous offenders to ensure they are abiding by the terms of their release and the court orders they are subject to.”