Rothwell paedophile fails in bid to overturn order restricting internet use

A pervert who asked a ‘12-year-old girl’ for naked pictures has failed in a bid to overturn an order restricting his internet use.

Lloyd Bishop, formerly of Bridge Street, Rothwell, was jailed for 44 weeks last month after being caught out by online paedophile hunters.

As well as a custodial sentence the 29-year-old was given a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), placing limitations on his use of devices with the internet and contact with children for 10 years.

Yesterday (Thursday) London’s Royal Courts of Justice heard an appeal, with Bishop’s barrister Pree Brada arguing that no SHPO was necessary and that its terms were not proportionate.

The court also heard that, because of Bishop’s learning difficulties, he would find it hard to comply with it as it was in terms he couldn’t understand.

Appeal judges Lady Justice Simler, Mr Justice Griffiths and Mr Justice Pepperall ruled that Recorder John Benson QC was justified in making the SHPO at the original hearing because of Bishop’s risk of reoffending – but replaced it with simpler language.

Passing judgment, Mr Justice Griffiths said: "The risk had to be addressed and the relatively short custodial sentence was not enough to do that."

Northampton Crown Court previously heard 29-year-old Bishop was already under investigation when he sent sexual messages to Facebook profiles of young girls, including one who said she was aged just 12.

He was initially arrested on April 13 over an unrelated matter and was asked to give police his mobile phone but refused, saying: “I have been doing bad things.”

Two weeks later police were informed that he had sent explicit messages to people he thought were children. They were in fact decoy profiles.

Bishop first contacted a profile for ‘Rosie’, who said she was 12, and said she was cute and that if she was older he would ‘ask her out’.

Bishop, who appeared over videolink from HMP Peterborough, promised that they would meet up before the messages became more sexual. He sent her a lewd picture of himself and asked for naked pictures of her in return.

The following day he messaged ‘Stacy’, who he thought was another underage girl. He asked if she would send naked pictures and sent a topless picture of himself in his room.

The court heard he was attracted to teenage females and was assessed by a probation officer as being at a high risk of serious harm to female children aged 12-plus.

Mr Justice Griffiths said: "The probation officer was of the opinion that he would probably have tried to meet the victims had they been real."

He added: "This was not one-off or out of character offending but part of an established pattern of sexual conduct."

The court also heard Bishop had mental health difficulties, a personality disorder, ADHD and lifelong DiGeorge Syndrome. A psychiatrist had reservations about his ability to comply with a SHPO.

Ms Brada said reports demonstrated that Bishop’s 'yes' answers when asked if he understood things – such as the SHPO’s terms – couldn't be relied on as he has a tendency to agree with what is said to him.

Appeal judges urged those making the orders to see if defendants can repeat the meaning back to them.