MATTHEW CALE

HEREFORDSHIRE SEX OFFENDER CAUGHT WITH ILLEGAL COMPUTER AFTER BREACH OF ORDER

A convicted sex offender from Herefordshire has been caught with a computer that he was not permitted to own.

Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court heard that Matthew Cale, a former football photographer and known for photographing local men’s matches, had failed to inform his offender manager that he possessed a computer, which was a requirement of a sexual harm prevention order issued in 2023.

Prosecutor Jack Taylor stated that Cale, 37, had no reasonable excuse for not reporting the computer.

He was discovered with the device in November last year, just over a year after the order was established by magistrates in Hereford.

Cale, of Orchard Place, Ledbury, admitted to breaching the order by owning the computer.

Previously, he was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay costs of £85.

Cale was a former football photographer who gained notoriety by trying to engage in sexual communication with two children and was involved in a paedophile sting between December 2022 and February 2023, where he was caught speaking to online decoys.

The court had previously ordered the deprivation of his desktop computer and other rights, aside from his vehicle, following his offending.

His actions have led to a conviction on one count of breaching a sexual harm prevention order, highlighting ongoing issues with compliance among sex offenders.