Wakefield paedophile being 'watched like a hawk' after suspicious internet searches
A convicted paedophile has been warned he is being “watched like a hawk” after officers found he had deleted his internet history.
Steven Watson is subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) after he was caught with thousands of sickening child-abuse images.
It stipulates that he must surrender to random officer checks of his internet devices and never delete his search history.
But during a routine inspection on November 16 last year, and following a detailed analysis, he was found to have deleted his searches twice on his Nokia mobile phone.
Searches “indicative” of his interest in children were recovered, including one that read “Asian kids playing in river”.
The 55-year-old appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week where he admitted a breach of his SHPO.
Little mitigation was offered by his barrister after Judge Andrew Stubbs KC conceded it was a low-level breach and he would not send Watson into custody.
He told Watson: “For really good reasons, for what you have done in the past, they are watching you like a hawk.
“I’m concerned about the sort of material you have been searching.
“It claims in the report that you won’t accept that you have a sexual interest in children. At some stage you are going to have to look deep inside yourself.
“You know you must not delete your history.”
He gave him a new 18-month community order with 25 rehabilitation days.
Watson, of King Street, Wakefield, was convicted of possessing more than 5,000 abuse images in 2019.
He was found to have 4,966 of category C images, 256 category B and 379 category A - the most serious involving the rape of children.
He was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for 24 months, and given the 10-year SHPO.
The court was told he had breached the SHPO several times since and as a result was jailed for eight months in 2022.