NORTH SHIELDS SEX OFFENDER JAILED AFTER BREACHING ORDERS AND DATING MUM UNAWARE OF HIS PAST
A sex offender who started a relationship with a mum who had no idea about his 'predilection for contacting young girls' has been jailed.William Gardner was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and sex offender notification requirements in 2021 as part of a 32 month prison sentence imposed for causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to have sexual communication with a child.
On March 6 last year, Gardner went to a police station for a risk review and a check on his phone revealed he had started a relationship with a woman who has children and he had deleted messages in relation to that to try to hide it from police.
The woman later said she had no knowledge of his convictions and revealed he had stayed overnight at her home, where her children live, five or six times and had spent time with her while her children were present.
The court heard he had also been using an alias on Facebook and had communicated with a 14-year-old on social media.
Gardner, 51, of Front Terrace, North Shields, pleaded guilty to offences of breaching a sexual harm prevention order and sex offender notification requirements.
Jailing him for two years, Recorder Chris Knox said Gardner had a "predilection for contacting young girls".
He added: "You understood perfectly clearly you had to act in accordance with the sexual harm prevention order that had been in place in relation to you for a long time.
You understand this perfectly well, you are not an unintelligent man.
I understand what you wanted to do was be normal and not warn her about your background.
The fact is you've got that history, it's your fault, you've done it and you've got to live with it." Ian Cook, defending, said: "This defendant wanted to normalise his life.
He didn't intent to get into a relationship with (the woman), it developed quite quickly." Mr Cook said Gardner had been working as a delivery driver until the police notified his employer about his previous offending and he lost his job, which left him "at a low ebb" at the time of the latest offences.
He added: "He is very remorseful about the offending which led to these orders being imposed in the first place and he is very remorseful about the impact these current offences have had on the lady he started a relationship with." "He acknowledges that would have been a great shock to her and she would have been understandably concerned for her children.
These were never intended consequences for him.
He met her and fell in love very quickly." Mr Cook added that Gardner has mental health issues and has suffered family bereavements which have led to him losing support.
