Wellingborough sex offender racks up forty-ninth offence after blocking a supervising police officer and disappearing to Derbyshire

A transgender sex offender from Wellingborough who commits crime in both male and female guises has been jailed yet again.

Chloe Walker, who also appeared on the Northampton Crown Court list as Brandon Walker at the same hearing, had been released from in January and was subject to a sexual harm prevention order, meaning police had to be told the number of any mobile phones owned by the defendant. Walker was also compelled to tell police of any change in address as part of sex offenders' register requirements.

But Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane heard how four months after release from prison, in May of this year, Walker, 30, had sent a text message refusing communication with a supervising police officer then blocked him, saying he was changing his name back to Brandon Walker.

When police knocked at Walker's door in Wellingborough a few days later they found the house abandoned, left in 'squalor'.

Along with a younger girlfriend, and calling themselves Ian and Kirsty, Walker had run off to a small Derbyshire village to sleep rough.

Kind strangers there who had been helping the pair, who they believed to be homeless, saw a missing person's appeal for the young woman and alerted Northamptonshire Police.

Walker was arrested in early June this year and found to be in breach of the sexual harm prevention order and the requirements the sex offenders' register and returned to prison. A mobile phone that police did not know about was also discovered.

The court heard how Walker had suffered from mental health issues, had autism, and had 22 previous convictions for 44 offences dating back to 2006 including sexually assaulting a boy under the age of 13, sexual activity with a girl under 16, robbery, ABH, assault.

Previous court hearings had been told how Walker had also offended in the names of Jamie Brandon Walker, Steven Walker, James Walker and Jamie Thornton.

A sexual harm prevention order made in 2016, along with conditions imposed by being on the sex offenders' register, had been breached three times that year, three times in 2018 and three times in 2019, resulting in several short prison sentences.

When arrested in December 2019, Walker was found to have a mobile phone that had searches for Grindr and Wikimedia.

Prosecuting, Lauren Butts said: "These are orders that have been continually breached."

In mitigation, barrister Chantelle Stocks said Walker does 'not react well to change'. "Lockdown has been particularly difficult," she said.

"In her words, 'when I struggle I disappear'."

A gender reassignment clinic appointment in May that Walker had been waiting three years for had been delayed by Covid.

Ms Stocks said: "Miss Walker has been waiting a very significant amount of time for a very important engagement in Nottingham, the engagement she saw would finally progress her transition. She found it demonstrably difficult to deal with the trauma which she viewed as a milestone in the progression to be the person who she not only wants to be but the person she needs to be."

The court heard how Walker was now employed full-time in prison as a wing cleaner at HMP Peterborough and had become a diversity representative meaning she holds weekly meetings and visits other prisoners to offer them support.

Appearing under the name Brandon Walker, the defendant pleaded guilty to two breaches of a sexual harm prevention order and one of failing to tell police of a new phone number.

There were also two guilty pleas under the name of Chloe Walker for failing to comply with the requirements the sex offenders' register.

Addressing Walker, Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane said: "There have been problems with you making malicious allegations against probation staff and poor compliance. They say you're highly likely to re-offend.

"It was traumatic for you because you have been waiting a very long for an appointment at the gender reassignment clinic."

Walker was sentenced to ten months in prison for each offence, to run concurrently, and will have to serve half of that sentence meaning release could be possible in November.