SEX OFFENDER RICKY BENNETT FAILED TO INFORM POLICE OF ADDRESS CHANGE
A SEX offender who failed to inform police that he had changed address could face jail after a court heard he moved into accommodation which supports vulnerable women.Ricky Bennett, 36, is required to notify police of any change in address within three days but failed to do so after moving to supported accommodation at Peter Street in Whitehaven in June.
He admitted failing to comply with notification requirements on the Sex Offenders’ Register when he appeared before Workington Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Outlining the case, prosecutor Peter Kelly said the defendant had received a term of imprisonment in Australia for what appeared to be ‘a serious sexual assault’.
Bennett was made subject to notification requirements which have ramifications in this country.
In October 2024, he was convicted of non-compliance with the requirements, the prosecutor said.
A statement made by a member of staff from the ‘Move On’ project said Bennett had been a service user since June.
The member of staff said she later became aware of the circumstances around Bennett’s conviction in Australia.
She said she hadn’t been made aware of the full details of the situation and the defendant had been placed in accommodation that supports vulnerable females.
If police had been made aware of the information, members of staff would have been able to make an assessment of the risk and make appropriate decisions, the court was told.
Mr Kelly said police conducted an unannounced visit to Bennett’s previous address and it became apparent that he had failed to inform police of the situation.
During police interview, Bennett admitted that he had not complied with notification requirements.
Mr Kelly said the defendant had chosen not to seek legal representation in court despite being at risk of custody due to the previous breach of notification requirements.
Bennett told the court that he was suffering with PTSD [post traumatic stress disorder] from being in the army and serving as a frontline paramedic in two tours of Afghanistan.
He said: “It wasn’t on my mind to go to the police and tell them.
Now I realise, I should have told them.
My head is not in the right place at the minute.
I moved out of my mam’s house and moved to Peter Street.” Magistrates adjourned the case to allow a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the Probation Service.
Bennett, of Peter Street, Whitehaven, will be sentenced on November 24.
