DAVID REYNOLDS IN YEOVIL AVOIDING JAIL DESPITE RISK TO CHILDREN

In July 2017, David Reynolds, a registered sex offender from Yeovil, narrowly avoided imprisonment after admitting to breaching his notification obligations five times. Reynolds, 30, of Sherborne Road, stayed at various addresses, including his own home, where children were present, as well as at a family member’s house and a friend's residence.

Police investigations revealed that Reynolds had failed to notify authorities on multiple occasions when he stayed at these addresses. Prosecutor Nikki Coombe explained that Reynolds had convictions for sexual assaults and was required to inform police if he stayed at any address for more than seven days.

“At some of these addresses, there were children present,” she said. “Sometimes he would disclose his status as a sex offender, other times he wouldn’t.”

Reynolds claimed during arrest that he had not understood the notification requirements, but the court, led by Recorder Paul Dunkels, found that his failures appeared deliberate and prolonged. “You failed to notify the authorities when you were staying in homes that had young children,” he stated. “I don’t accept this was a misunderstanding. You were deliberately involving yourself in grooming and involving yourself in the lives of people who have young children. This was a repeated and deliberate failure on your part.”

The court sentenced Reynolds to six months in prison, suspended for two years. Recognizing the risk he posed to children, the judge ordered him to undertake 20 days of rehabilitation activities, enroll in a sex offenders program, and imposed a sexual harm prevention order against him, emphasizing the seriousness of the breach.