ADAM BARRACLOUGH FROM EARSWICK, YORK: SERIAL FRAUDSTER AND SEX OFFENDER SENT BACK TO PRISON

In a case that has shocked the local community of Earswick and the wider city of York, Adam Barraclough, formerly known as Adam Bentley, has been sentenced to serve time behind bars once again. The 20-year-old, who has a long history of criminal activity, was caught in a compromising situation involving a mother and her young child, which led to his re-arrest and subsequent conviction.

According to York Crown Court proceedings, police observed Barraclough in a vehicle with a woman and her 20-month-old son. The prosecution, led by Alan Mitcheson, revealed that Barraclough was prohibited from being in the company of the child and the mother due to his prior sex offenses. The mother was under the impression that Barraclough was a professional dancer, working in a London production and also teaching dance, unaware of his criminal background.

It was disclosed that Barraclough was on parole following a nearly four-year sentence for a series of serious offenses, including child abuse, financial crimes, and deception. His criminal record also includes posing as a model agency representative with the intent to sexually assault underage girls by pretending to measure them during supposed photo shoots. His past crimes paint a disturbing picture of a manipulative individual with a complex and unresolved sexual history.

Judge Stephen Ashurst, the Recorder of York, addressed Barraclough directly, stating, “She found you a charming and engaging young man, but I am satisfied you are something of a chameleon and therefore a danger because beneath the surface of what appears to be an articulate man lies a very complex sexual history with a number of unresolved problems.” The judge emphasized the gravity of Barraclough’s breach of a sexual offenses prevention order issued in May 2011, which explicitly forbade him from being unsupervised with any child and required that any adult present with a child be aware of his sex offense history.

For violating this order, Barraclough was sentenced to 12 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to the breach, which is considered an indefinite order, and he remains on the sex offenders register for ten years. Barraclough, who has no fixed address, had entered into a relationship with the mother, which ended after police uncovered the breach. The relationship reportedly began when the mother was working at Scunthorpe Railway Station, a location Barraclough frequented. The couple had been seen together with her young son, but their relationship was ultimately severed after the police intervention.

During the court hearing, Taryn Turner, representing Barraclough, stated that the mother had told police that Barraclough had always behaved as a “perfect gentleman” towards her and her child, and she had no concerns about his conduct with the boy. Barraclough was initially unaware that she had a child and had wanted to establish their relationship before revealing his criminal past.

Adding to his troubling history, Barraclough’s criminal record includes an extensive eight-year period of fraud, during which he managed to deceive aviation executives into believing he was the owner of an airline company. His criminal activities date back to when he was just 12 years old, involving various scams and deceptions. His latest conviction also includes a conviction for setting up a fake modeling agency called Jungle International, through which he sexually assaulted girls under the guise of conducting body measurements during photo shoots. He used multiple aliases and operated in cities such as Manchester, London, and Bolton.

Police investigations also looked into allegations that Barraclough assaulted two fellow inmates in a young offenders’ institution, though he denies these accusations. Prosecutor Neil Usher highlighted Barraclough’s use of different identities, including one named Dominic Evans, to bolster his false claims of running an airline and to facilitate his manipulative schemes.

In court, Judge Martin Steiger described Barraclough’s abilities and talents as “considerable,” but warned that his actions demonstrated a “Walter Mitty lifestyle,” driven by fantasies of grandeur. The judge emphasized that Barraclough’s primary motivation appeared to be sexual gratification, and he posed a significant ongoing risk to the public, especially young girls.

As a result of his latest crimes, Barraclough was sentenced to an additional ten months in prison, on top of a previous three-year sentence handed down in July for sexual offenses against two girls aged seven and eight in North Yorkshire. Due to legal restrictions, details of that earlier case could not be reported until now. Barraclough pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including sexually assaulting the girls, taking indecent photographs, and defrauding photographers out of payment. He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, barred from being a company director for four years, and subject to an indefinite sexual offenses prevention order.

In mitigation, Glenn Parsons argued that the sexual assaults were not as severe as some cases and did not cause significant distress to the victims. He noted that the oldest girl had spent a weekend with Barraclough in London, sleeping in the same bed without incident, and expressed that Barraclough regretted his actions and needed to mature. His history of deception and criminality, including the airline scam that garnered national headlines in 2009 when he was just 17, underscores a pattern of manipulative behavior that continues to pose a serious threat to society.