A Blaenymaes Paedophile, Ian Mitchell, violated an order to restrain his internet activities by joining dating websites under fictitious names, according to court documents. Ian Mitchell joined up for Plenty of Fish and SilverSingles, but authorities were notified of his activity using phone tracking software. He was also discovered with pornographic drawings of young girls, which he was storing in a folder of documents related to the course he was taking to prevent future offending.
Ian Mitchell has a 25-year history of sexual offences, beginning with him sexually abusing a young girl and continuing with many arrests for indecent photographs and recordings. He has even been discovered reoffending in prison by gathering newspaper clippings of young girls in nativity performances and information about prominent child killers. A judge sentenced him back to prison, citing his history of employing “determination and deception” to attain his goals.
Swansea Crown Court heard that in April this year, police were notified that the 62-year-old defendant had registered on dating sites Plenty of Fish and SilverSingles under names other than his own, which he is prohibited from doing under the provisions of a sexual harm prevention order. Ian Mitchell was caught and interviewed, and he stated that he was lonely and desired social connection. He claimed that he had searched the sites for ladies aged 40 to 60.
Ian Spencer Mitchell, of Nolton Court, Blaenymaes, Swansea, had already pleaded guilty to violating a sexual harm prevention order when he appeared in court for sentence. Ian Mitchell had previously pled guilty to possessing forbidden images of children, namely drawings of young girls being sexually abused, one of which depicted a girl holding a teddy bear and a man’s penis. According to the court, the drawings were discovered among a file of materials linked to the Stop It Now online course he was taking through the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a nonprofit committed to preventing child sexual abuse.
Ian Mitchell, according to the court, has 41 previous convictions for 125 crimes. His sexual offences started in 1999, when he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for gross indecency with a youngster. This crime involved him sexually abusing a female and showing her a pornographic film while masturbating.
Ian Mitchell received an extended sentence as a dangerous offender in 2005 for creating indecent photographs of a child, and in 2011, he was jailed again and placed under a sexual harm prevention order for manufacturing and having indecent images. The following year, he was sentenced to three years in prison for again creating and having indecent photographs. Ian Mitchell’s offending continued after he was released from prison, and in 2015 he was sentenced to 40 months in prison for participating in online talks about sexual assault and sharing indecent photographs and films, including Category A, which includes the most extreme forms of child sexual abuse and rape.
While serving his term at HMP Channings Wood in Devon, the defendant was discovered in his cell with a secret hoard of newspaper cuttings of young girls in swimming costumes or nativity performances, some of which he had pasted to photos of naked women in a pornographic magazine. He also maintained a collection of newspaper cuttings from high-profile child murder cases. Ian Mitchell received a second extended term in 2017 for this offence, which included 12 months in jail and a three-year licence period.
The defendant received another extended sentence as a dangerous offender the following year after Swansea police discovered over 4,000 indecent and prohibited pictures on his phone and in his iCloud storage account, as well as sexualised conversations on WhatsApp in which he pretended to be a girl aged 11 to 13. Ian Mitchell was sentenced to two years in jail with a three-year licence period for creating, having, and distributing indecent photographs, as well as violating a SHPO. The court heard that he violated the SHPO again in 2021 by purchasing an internet-enabled video game console. His last conviction came in November of last year, when he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for violating a sexual harm prevention order by surreptitiously joining Facebook.
Ian Mitchell’s attorney, Nicola Powell, stated that while the illegal photographs were discovered prior to his last sentencing in November, he was not charged with them until after he was released from that term. She claimed the defendant had the photos while serving a previous term and had brought them with him when he was released. The barrister stated that the defendant told her that he did not believe the dating websites were covered by the social media provisions of the sexual harm prevention order, and that he wished to emphasise that they were adult sites.
Judge Catherine Richards stated that she had heard the mitigation presented on behalf of the prisoner, but that it was up to her to accept the reality of those allegations. She stated that the defendant had a “ongoing” sexual interest in youngsters, and that his background indicated that he would use “determination and deception” to achieve his goals. She stated that she had no doubt Ian Mitchell was well aware of the court order’s limits but proceeded nonetheless, and that the kind of dishonesty that persons in his position would engage in in order to have access to children was well known.
Ian Mitchell was sentenced to two years in jail, with the required one-third discount for his guilty plea. He will spend up to half of that time in detention before being released on a licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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