Sunderland sex offender walks from court despite sending terrifying Facebook messages to woman he sexually assaulted

Sex offender Daniel Grimes, who has been handed a suspended prison sentence at Newcastle Crown Court after he taunted and threatened a woman on Facebook almost a decade after he'd sexually assaulted her in a stranger attack.

Daniel Grimes did not know the woman he sexually assaulted and had had no contact with her after he was convicted in court.

But Newcastle Crown Court heard in May this year, the 29-year-old sent her a series of taunting messages and told her "it's people like you who are the danger".

Grimes threatened violence during the tirade and warned the woman would end up "looking like him off the Goonies".

The court heard the contact made the woman "feel sick" and was so frightened she felt unable to sleep in her own home.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Muir told the court the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was at work when she received the contact on the social media messenger app.

The court heard the message, which was "completely out of the blue" said: "I hope you get hit by a bus. You crying wolf because someone tried it on with you."

Grimes told the woman "It's people like you who are the danger" and spoke of her "ruining people's lives".

He added: "Everyone knows you are an attention seeker, even the courts".

Miss Muir told the court: "She was understandably distressed. She wasn't friends with him on Facebook but as a result of him sending her the message she could access his profile.

"She accessed the profile and was able to confirm from the profile picture that the photo was indeed the same person who had sexually assaulted her."

The court heard the woman confided in a friend what had happened and Grimes was warned off with a message from the concerned pal.

But Miss Muir said Grimes continued to message his victim and warned her: "You are going to get the biggest hiding of your life. I would watch your backs around Sunderland."

The message was followed by an emoji blowing a kiss.

Grimes said he would meet the woman and her pal so they could "watch each other get battered" and warned: "You are going to end up looking like him off the Goonies, yes, yes, yes", followed by a laughing emoji.

And he also threatened the woman, who is entitled to lifelong anonymity as the victim of a sexual offence, "your name is going to get posted everywhere", with another laughing emoji.

Grimes, of Trinity Street, Southwick, Sunderland, who has previous convictions which include violence, admitted sending malicious communications.

Judge Julie Clemitson sentenced him to ten months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with rehabilitation requirements and a lifelong restraining order which bans any further contact with the woman.

The judge told him: "She had had nine years to put that matter behind her and to deal with it.

"You, by contacting her in the way you did and throwing it all back in her direction would have brought all of it back to the fore of her mind and caused her substantial distress."

Judge Clemitson added: "You caused a great deal of upset to a woman who had already been victimised by you, a number of years before."

Richard Copsey, defending, said Grimes has cerebral palsy which causes him problems, including poor memory, and that he was at a low point in his life at the time.

Mr Copsey said Grimes had been scrolling Facebook when he came across the woman's profile by chance and "he did not go out to seek her".

The court heard Grimes regrets what he did and added: "He simply came across her on Facebook".