A “highly perilous” Barry paedophile, Owen David, discovered with indecent photographs of minors, violated a court order by communicating with young boys on Instagram. He also contacted boys requesting photographs.
Owen David, 30, of Barry, was incarcerated in 2020 for attempting to engage with a minor after grooming and for possessing child abuse imagery. Consequently, he was subjected to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) prohibiting contact with children.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court revealed that Owen David’s electronic gadgets were consistently watched by a probation officer. On June 6 of the previous year, the probation officer examined the defendant’s Instagram account, which was discovered to be following 60 profiles belonging to young males.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Jones said Owen David had also sent a message to one boy which read “DM for pics”, which was interpreted as a request for images. An offender manager obtained a password for the defendant’s account and saw he was following an account for a 15-year-old boy but as he viewed these accounts they were being deleted.
Owen David, now of HMP Parc, was arrested the following day and an Alcatel phone was seized. Two “borderline” images of children were discovered but the most concerning was an image of a boy between eight and 10 years old exposing his hip, which was considered a category C image.
Owen David initially denied any wrongdoing but later pleaded guilty to breaching a SHPO and making an indecent image. The court heard David was sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2020 and a further 18 months imprisonment the same year. At the time of the current offence he was subject to a 10-year SHPO.
In mitigation Martha Smith-Higgins said her client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and was “candid” about his sexual interest in children. She said he also told police about the indecent images and told them where they could find it on his device.
Sentencing, Judge Daniel Williams said: “You have a terrible record in relation to child sexual offences. It’s clear from everything I have heard about you – you are extremely dangerous. This is a serious breach of the SHPO.”
Owen David was sentenced to a total of three years and two months imprisonment. He was made subject to a new SHPO and sex offender notification requirements which will last for life.
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