Two ill individuals with paedophilic tendencies were apprehended for exchanging messages on WhatsApp regarding child sexual abuse.
Ricky Cavanagh, 38, was under a sexual harm prevention order when police examined his phone, having received intelligence regarding his activity on several social media platforms.
On Tuesday, Bradford Crown Court was informed that the order had been instituted in September 2016, following Cavanagh’s conviction for a series of egregious sexual offences, including the attempt to induce a girl under the age of 13 to participate in sexual conduct.
Prosecutor Zabreen Alam-Cheetham, said that at the time of the breach of the order on March 18 this year, Cavanagh was managed by the Calderdale Public Protection Unit. She said: “The conditions prohibited him from making any attempt to delete any data from any device that can access the internet or refusing to show such history to a police officer.” The court was told a number of concerns were raised in relation to Cavanagh due to him being “elusive” and reports which had been received.
Ms Alam-Cheetham said: “The defendant was seen by a public protection officer walking through Halifax town centre. He was stopped and spoken to and due to previous concerns and the conditions of his sexual harm prevention order was asked to produce items and he got out his phone, opened the device and the PC watched as he scrolled to media he had downloaded and deleted the Snapchat app from the device.”
Cavanagh was detained and arrested and his internet history was lost but his WhatsApp conversations showed he was in conversation with another sex offender discussing the sexual abuse of children. A forensic download of his phone also showed Snapchat had been installed on nine occasions and uninstalled on eight occasions between February and March this year.
His Honour Judge Ahmed Nadim told the court Cavanagh was a “high risk sex offender.” Cavanagh represented himself and said he was “happy with everything and happy to proceed.”
He was jailed for 28 months and told: “The public protection unit regards you as a high risk offender. Your behaviour in the community has caused the authorities some considerable concern. You’re capable of plumbing to the depths of depravity.
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