A SEX offender has been jailed after breaching court orders in Herefordshire.

Macaulay Stephens appeared before magistrates in Hereford for sentencing in October after he was convicted of one count of failing to comply with notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Register and one of breaching a sexual harm prevention order when he appeared before magistrates at an earlier hearing.

The court heard from prosecutor Eleanor Peart that the 27-year-old, who is a relevant offender under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, had failed without reasonable excuse to comply with his notification requirements in Wigmore, Herefordshire, during April 2022.

Magistrates were told that Stephens had failed to notify police that he had resided or stayed for at least 12 hours in a household or another private place where a person aged under 19 resides or stays within three days, contrary to his requirements.

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He had also, without reasonable excuse, used a device capable of accessing the internet without first notifying a police officer from his local public protection unit that he possessed the item, contrary to a sexual harm prevention order imposed by Hereford magistrates in July 2019.

Magistrates said Stephens has a flagrant disregard for court orders and that the offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified.

Stephens, who is of Coningsby Road, Leominster, was jailed for a total of eight months.

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