ANTHONY COOMBES SENTENCED IN SWANSEA FOR INTERNET AND ONLINE OFFENSES

A convicted sex offender, Anthony Coombes, was recently apprehended with internet-wiping software on his phone and an email account created under a false name, just months after leaving court. At the time of this arrest, Coombes was serving a suspended sentence for engaging in sexually explicit conversations with what he believed were 12 and 14-year-old girls, and he was subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) restricting his online activities.

A judge ordered Coombes, aged 22 and of Colley Court, Monkton, Pembroke, to serve a prison term after expressing doubts about his intentions to follow court directives. Prosecutor Dean Pulling told Swansea Crown Court that on February 4, police visited Coombes' residence and requested access to his electronic devices. Coombes handed over a Huawei mobile phone, which the officers noted had only that day's internet history. Further analysis revealed the phone contained an app with a data-erasing feature, and that Coombes maintained an email account under the alias “Bennypern,” despite being prohibited from using aliases or deleting internet history under the SHPO.

In a subsequent interview, Coombes claimed he was unaware deleting his online history was forbidden, explaining that the cleaning app was standard with a secondhand phone he purchased. He admitted to creating the alias email account, stating it was only for use on his Xbox games console.

Coombes, also known as Anthony Stephen Joshua Coombes, had previously pleaded guilty to breaching his sexual harm prevention order during sentencing proceedings.

The court was informed that in October 2021, Coombes received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years at Swansea Crown Court. His prior convictions involved attempting to communicate sexually with a child, possessing indecent images, and failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements. He had engaged in sexual conversations with what he thought were two girls aged 12 and 14 on Chat Hour, soliciting explicit images. However, these profiles were decoys operated by adult members of paedophile hunter groups, and the operator of one of the decoy accounts contacted police after discovering Coombes had befriended real young girls on Facebook.

Police found on Coombes’ phone two indecent images of girls aged between eight and 12, downloaded via Kik Messenger. After pleading guilty, the case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report. Although released on bail, Coombes failed to register with authorities as required by law.

The prosecution also highlighted that Coombes was under a conditional caution from 2017 as a juvenile, related to attempting to incite a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity and sending indecent images, including pictures and videos of his own genitals to girls aged 14 and 15.

Judge Paul Thomas QC stated the October 2021 sentence was lenient, but it became apparent that Coombes had no intention of adhering to the SHPO conditions. The judge sentenced him to eight months in prison for breaching the order and activated a 10-month suspended sentence from earlier proceedings, to run consecutively, resulting in a total sentence of 18 months. Coombes will serve up to half of this time in detention before being released on license, with the remaining period to be served in the community. The existing sexual harm prevention order remains in effect.