CRAIG WARMER, NORWICH-BASED OFFENDER AND FORMER LABOUR CANDIDATE, ESCAPES IMPRISONMENT IN NORWICH

In March 2015, Norwich Crown Court heard details of Craig Warmer, a 22-year-old, convicted sex offender and former Labour candidate, who managed to avoid prison despite breaching a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO). Warmer, residing on Drayton Road in Norwich, exposed himself to two teenage girls aged 14 and 15 on a bus traveling from Norwich to Dereham. Prosecutor Charles Falk stated that Warmer followed the girls off the bus and asked them for the time, which made them very uncomfortable.

Warmer had previously been convicted of filming up girls’ skirts, leading to a SOPO imposed last year for three years, along with a community order requiring three years of supervision and participation in a sex offender group work treatment programme. Despite these measures, he breached the order by committing the recent offences.

The court heard that Warmer had been a Labour candidate for Dereham South in the Norfolk County Council elections.

Judge Maureen Bacon QC sentenced Warmer to a 12-month suspended prison sentence, emphasizing his "deep-seated attitudes towards girls aged from 14 to 24" and describing his behaviour as a serious public safety concern. She also stated, “You had not started the treatment programme when you committed this last offence, and you since have. You are on your last chance. Your deep-seated issues towards women are wrong and they will be challenged over and over again.”

During the hearing, Warmer’s defense attorney, Jonathan Morgans, expressed support from Warmer’s family, noting, “For a father to hear what his son has been doing has been particularly difficult. He in no way condones it but is there with support for his son.” Warmer was additionally prohibited from entering Dereham for two years and will be subject to curfew restrictions.

Earlier in February 2015, Warmer appeared via video link from prison to admit breaching his SOPO. His case was adjourned until March 5 for sentencing. Warmer’s previous convictions involved lifting a girl’s skirt and filming her at Castle Mall in Norwich, lifting another girl’s skirt outside City College Norwich, and sexually assaulting a woman he followed in Dereham.

He was placed under a three-year sex offender treatment programme and registered publicly as a sex offender. The breach occurred when he committed the latest offences, which violated the conditions of his SOPO.

In July 2014, Warmer had also pleaded guilty to two counts of outraging public decency and one of sexual assault. CCTV footage captured him lifting a girl’s skirt and filming it at Boots in Castle Mall, Norwich, and involved other instances of indecent behaviour including following a woman and lifting her skirt in Dereham.

Prosecutor Christopher Morgan detailed the incidents, including the first offence on November 27 in Dereham, where Warmer grabbed a young woman’s buttock, resulting in a DNA match from her coat. The subsequent offences took place while Warmer was on bail, involving another girl at City College and a girl in Boots, all involving similar inappropriate conduct.

Throughout these proceedings, Warmer's legal representative reiterated that he had strong family support and that his bizarre deviant tendencies were indicative of an inability to control his impulses, with a desire to prevent recurrence.