Sunderland man jailed after sending 'indecent or grossly offensive' messages to two females

Alex William Evans has admitted two charges under the Malicious Communications Act after sending messages via the Snapchat social media app to one of his victims and text messages to the other.

Both sets of actions “conveyed a message which was indecent or grossly offensive for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety” to either the recipient or other people.

A court has now imprisoned 22-year-old Evans for 12 weeks after deciding that each offence was “so serious because the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s record of previous offending”.

Evans of Helmdon, Sulgrave, Washington, was locked up at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court without a written pre-sentence report as custody was deemed to be “inevitable”.

The court heard that he targeted one of his victims over a 12-day period earlier this year and the second female over a near three-week overlapping period of time.

Separate restraining orders imposed at last week’s hearing prevent him from contacting either person “by any means what so ever” until August 13 next year.

Evans, whose guilty pleas were taken into account when the court imposed its sentence, must also pay a victim surcharge of £128 at a rate of £5 per week from the end of October.

No order for court costs was made against him owing to his “lack of means”.

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