Convicted repeat sex offender caught messaging teenage girls.

Abigail Waller, formerly known as Jamie Waller, has been jailed for three and a half years after breaching court-imposed conditions by messaging three schoolgirls on Facebook.

The 29-year-old, who now identifies as a woman and prefers to be called 'Abi', was previously convicted in 2020 of a string of serious child sex offences.

Waller had been released from prison in May 2022 after serving half of her five-year sentence but within three months had begun messaging three girls on Facebook, two of whom were 14 and one of whom was 13.

Waller used a fake profile under the name of Jake Smith and sent messages to the girls claiming to be 14 years old. She told them "you are really beautiful" and "so pretty", and sent a love heart emoji.

Waller was caught by police in August 2022 after officers visited her home for a separate reason and discovered her hiding a phone with the messages in her lap.

At her trial, Waller denied sending the messages, claiming her wife Lucy Waller had framed her. However, the jury convicted her of four counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Judge Michael Bowes KC sentenced Waller to three and a half years in prison, stating that her messages were a "pre-cursor to what Waller had in mind".

The judge highlighted Waller's previous convictions and her re-offending just three months after being released from prison. He said that the messages were part of a grooming process and that Waller had "a serious record for offences involving children".