Macauley Webb (Image: Gwent Police)
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A convicted sex offender who was freed early from an eight-year jail term was found with indecent images of children on his phone barely two months later.
Macauley Webb, 29, from Newport, had been recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions when he was arrested last summer.
Previous offending
Webb has an extensive history of child sex offences stretching back almost a decade. He was convicted in 2016 of three counts of possessing indecent photographs of children and returned to court the following year for breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
In October 2018, he admitted three further counts of making indecent images of children along with another breach of his prevention order.
Then in July 2021, he was handed an eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child and attempting to meet a boy following sexual grooming. That case involved Webb travelling to a Morrisons supermarket car park in Cwmbran to meet someone he believed was a 12-year-old schoolboy – but who was in fact an undercover police officer operating a fake profile.
Latest offences
Cardiff Crown Court heard Webb began searching for illegal material online around two months after his release back into the community.
Pamela Kaiga, prosecuting, told the court that 11 indecent images of children were discovered on his mobile phone – two at category A, the most serious classification, six at category B, and three at category C.
His offending took place between 24 July and 19 August 2025. Webb admitted three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child and one count of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
Mitigation
Gareth Williams, defending, told the court: “He’s had significant trauma in his life – it’s distressing to read.
“But that doesn’t give him a free pass in life.”
He added: “He feels anxious and low at times and he has autism.
“It’s a complex set of circumstances.
“He’s capable of better.
“There are traits of vulnerability in his personality.
“His best mitigation is his guilty pleas which were entered at the earliest available opportunity at the magistrates’ court.”
Sentence
Judge Hywel James jailed Webb for 28 months. He must also register as a sex offender for life.
