SEX OFFENDER BACK IN COURT FOR OFFENCE DAYS AFTER RELEASE FROM PRISON
A SEX offender has appeared back in court over an offence he committed just days after his release from prison.Martin Dempsey was jailed in January after he grabbed a woman by the crotch before strangling her near to Warrington Central train station after she rejected his sexual advances.
He was handed a sentence of 16 months behind bars and ordered to sign the sex offender register for 10 years.
It is the terms of his sex offender registration that have seen the 56-year-old hauled back to court.
Dempsey, now of no fixed abode, but previously of Latchford, appeared before Chester Magistrates’ Court recently, where he admitted a charge of failing to comply with his sex offender notification requirements.
Lisa Maguire, prosecuting, told the court that the offence was committed on October 12, when he failed without reasonable excuse to co register with Cheshire Police within three days of his release from prison.
This sentence of imprisonment was imposed after the defendant became abusive to a woman who rejected his sexual advances.
He grabbed the crotch of the woman over her jeans, which caused her to push his arms away.
But Dempsey later grabbed her by the throat and pushed her head against a wall, restricting her breathing until he released his grip 10 to 15 seconds later.
A witness helped the woman by calling her into the station and was thanked repeatedly by the victim who was said to ‘look frightened’.
The court heard that Dempsey has a history of offending, including theft and the possession of cannabis.
In 2007, the then-36-year-old was put on probation after he was caught playing cowboys and Indians in a back garden with an imitation firearm while intoxicated.
For breaching his sex offender register requirements, the defendant was sentenced by district judge Ian Barnes to eight weeks in prison, but this was suspended for the next 12 months.
The court heard that the offence was so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified, but he is deemed to be a prospect for rehabilitation due to him engaging with the Probation Service.
His guilty plea was taken into account, and he was ordered to pay costs to the Crown Prosecution Service of £85.
