Sunderland sex offender spared jail for moving in with mum and child without revealing convictions

Callum MacGregor was jailed in 2015 for sexually assaulting a child and making indecent photographs, which means he must abide by sex offender registration and sexual harm prevention order requirements.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 24-year-old must keep the authorities constantly informed of where he is living.

But when police went to his home in Sunderland to carry out a spot-check in July last year, they found he had abandoned it.

Inquiries revealed he had moved to Telford in Shropshire with a woman he met online and who had a small child.

The court heard MacGregor had told the police in that area that he was living there but was registered as having no fixed address.

Prosecutor Lewis Kerr told the court: "From a point in April he seems to have been living with a female, an adult with whom he was beginning a relationship.

"He explained he had gone to move with her."

MacGregor told police he had felt "unable to move in if he disclosed his previous convictions".

Mr Kerr added: "Living in the house with this adult female and the defendant was the adult female's three-year-old child.

Mr Kerr said there was no suggestion that the presence of the child was a motive for MacGregor moving in with the woman.

Vic Laffey, defending, said MacGregor had met the woman in a chatroom and they started a relationship.

Mr Laffey added: "He found himself in a situation where he felt he would never be able to move on with his life if he disclosed the convictions he is required to disclose under the orders he is subject to."

Mr Laffey said MacGregor did "at some point" reveal his past to the woman and their relationship continued.

MacGregor, of Claremont Terrace, Sunderland, admitted breach of sexual harm prevention order and notification requirements.

Mr Recorder David Gordon sentenced MacGregor to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with rehabilitation requirements, 100 hours unpaid work and a four month curfew.

The judge told him: "Officers called to your address expecting to find you there, in order to carry out a home risk assessment and on arrival officers discovered you had not in fact been seen at that address for some considerable time.

"Having been provided with that information, they made a number of inquiries and made telephone contact with you. You advised the police in fact you had moved to the Telford area in April 2020."

The judge added: "This woman was ignorant of your convictions, all be it later you told her about it."

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