Sex offender jailed for removing tag and messaging teens

A Flintshire sex offender who attempted to evade detection by removing his GPS monitoring tag and discarding it in a public bin has been jailed for two years.

Luke Gillard, 21, from Wirral View in Hawarden, appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday where he admitted four sex offences that saw him breach strict court orders designed to protect children.

The court heard Gillard had been convicted of three counts of sexual activity with a child in August 2024, leading to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order. This prohibited him from having unsupervised contact with anyone under 16, restricted his internet use, and required him to register his address with authorities.

However, on 28th October last year, Gillard removed his GPS tag in what prosecutor Patrick Gartland described as “a determined attempt to avoid detection.”

When police visited his home unannounced that month, Gillard handed over a basic Nokia phone with limited capabilities, claiming he wasn’t intending to use it for internet access. Days later, officers returned and discovered a Samsung smartphone hidden under his bed with Snapchat saved on the home screen.

Analysis of the seized device revealed access to TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Chat logs showed Gillard had been messaging youngsters who told him they were 13, 14 and 15 years old, with the defendant lying about his own age. While most messages weren’t sexual in nature, one exchange with a 15-year-old girl between 12th and 27th October was sexualised.

Defence barrister Dafydd Roberts told the court his client has been diagnosed with ADHD and potentially autism, noting that only one chat was sexual. He added that Gillard needs to engage with the probation service and adhere to protective court orders.

Sentencing Gillard, His Honour Timothy Petts said: “This sort of behaviour is clearly completely unacceptable whatever diagnosis you have…You are a young man with a clear sexual obsession with teenaged girls.”

Gillard received two years imprisonment for breaching his sexual harm prevention order by having contact with children, with concurrent sentences of 16 months for unlawfully using social media, eight months for breaching notification requirements, and six months for sexual communication with a child.