Swansea Crown Court (Image: Leighton Collins / Alamy)
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A Carmarthenshire man with multiple previous convictions for child sex image offences has been spared prison after he breached a court order by chatting with an artificial intelligence chatbot about child sexual abuse – and then deleting the app from his phone before police could examine it.
Ben Stephen Thomas Barrett, 37, of Maes y Farchnad, Llandeilo, was handed a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years when he appeared at Swansea Crown Court for sentencing. He had previously entered a guilty plea to breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
How officers uncovered the breach
Prosecutor Abu Hussain told the court that Barrett has been subject to a SHPO since 2018, under which he is prohibited from deleting or concealing his online activities and browsing history.
In October last year, eSafe monitoring software – installed on Barrett’s phone by police – alerted officers that he had been accessing an app called Polybuzz and using it to engage in conversations with an AI chatbot about child sex abuse.
Officers attended Barrett’s home to inspect the device, but found the Polybuzz app had already been removed. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of breaching his SHPO.
History of offending
The court heard that Barrett has four previous convictions spanning 16 offences.
He first received a community order in 2016 for possessing indecent images and was made subject to a SHPO. Two years later, he was convicted of the same offence, received a suspended prison sentence, and a fresh 10-year SHPO was imposed – the order he went on to breach in connection with the Polybuzz app.
In 2020, Barrett was convicted of failing to comply with the requirements of the sex offenders register and was once again given a suspended sentence.
Mitigation
Tom Scapens, representing Barrett, told the court that the eSafe monitoring software had been present on his client’s phone for over 12 months before it was activated. He said Barrett had been “open and frank” with the Probation Service about what he described as his “obsessive” behaviour.
Sentence
Recorder Paul Lewis KC told the court the offence was one that could attract a suspended sentence, and said that given all the circumstances – “and not without some hesitation” – that was what he intended to impose.
With a one-quarter reduction for his guilty plea, Barrett was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work in the community alongside a rehabilitation course and an accredited programme.
Warning Barrett directly, the recorder said: “You are fortunate in avoiding custody. Breach the order again and it is likely you will not get another chance and off to custody you will go”.
