STEPHEN VINCENT

HARTLEPOOL SEX OFFENDER BACK BEHIND BARS

Stephen Vincent, aged 60, was sentenced to 28 months in prison at Teesside Crown Court last August after violating the terms of a suspended sentence that was imposed for grooming a minor girl.

He was subsequently released on parole but was instructed to comply with the strict regulations of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which had been imposed on him in 2024.

One of these conditions prohibited him from deleting his internet browsing history, yet he chose to ignore this rule after installing dating applications on his phone.

As a result, he was summoned before the court again on Tuesday, where he received an additional prison term for breaching the court order.

During a routine house visit in Hartlepool in February, police discovered Vincent had removed dating apps from his phone and was using pseudonyms he had not disclosed to authorities.

Prosecutor Alexander Strother explained that police found the dating app Lucky Single open on Vincent’s device, with messages visible between him and an adult woman, with Vincent using the alias BigStephen60.

Officers also identified evidence of three other apps that Vincent had downloaded and subsequently deleted in violation of the SHPO.

Since he was still under licence, Vincent was recalled to Holme House Prison following his arrest.

He admitted to the new breaches and was sentenced to an additional 12 months behind bars.

Originally, Vincent had received a two-year suspended sentence and was subject to a SHPO in early 2024 after being convicted of attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming activities.

He had contacted what he believed was a 13-year-old girl on Facebook multiple times, offering her sex, and dismissing her age with the comment, “It’s just a number.” The online profile was, in fact, a decoy set up by an online sex offender hunting group.

The purpose of a SHPO is to enable authorities to monitor an individual's behaviour in the community.

Vincent’s first breach of this order occurred in May 2024, which led to the suspension of his two-year sentence and the addition of four more months for the violation.

Judge Andrew Hatton commented on the case, stating, “Having seen the serious view the court takes of Sexual Harm Prevention Order breaches, you nevertheless committed these two new offences.” Defence lawyer Martin Scarborough reflected that his client’s sole mitigation was his admission of guilt.