Sex offender jailed for contacting young girls

A registered sex offender who breached a prevention order by sending sexually explicit messages to schoolgirls has been jailed for four years and eight months.

Katie Birtles was arrested on 16 January after trying to meet a 14-year-old girl at the railway station in Grantham, Lincolnshire.

Birtles, of Wroxall Drive, Grantham, breached a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), preventing any contact with children, which was put in place in 2017 for previous offences.

At Lincoln Crown Court on Monday, the 40-year-old was ordered to remain on the sex offenders register for life and will be subject to the SHPO indefinitely.

Lincolnshire Police said messages on Birtles' phone over a two-week period in January found the offender was planning to meet victims for sex and had offered to buy gifts such as wine and chocolates.

Birtles pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in sexual communication with a child, one count of arranging/facilitating commission of offence of sexual activity and two counts of breaching the SHPO.

The defendant had previously admitted three counts of making indecent images of children at a hearing in September 2017 and was sentenced to nine months in prison.

Birtles was also handed a 10-year SHPO, with one of the conditions preventing any direct or indirect contact with children under 16, both online and offline.

Det Con Nicola Paradowski, from the Lincolnshire force, said: "I hope this sends a clear message that we will not tolerate child sexual exploitation in our county and will take robust action.

"Breaches to orders like the sexual harm prevention order will be dealt with and action will be taken immediately to ensure we continue to protect those at risk of most harm in our communities."

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