James Coombes Sent Back to Prison for Breaching Sexual Harm Prevention Order

A 31-year-old registered sex offender, James Coombes, has been sentenced to one year in prison for breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Coombes, formerly of Northampton, was convicted in 2016 of causing/inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and making indecent images of children. As a result, he was placed on the Sex Offenders' Register and issued with a SHPO, imposing strict conditions upon his release from prison. This included unannounced visits from Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO Team who could visit at any time.

On February 10th, during one such visit, officers examined Coombes' devices and discovered he had used electronic cleaning software to remove 4.3GB of data. Coombes claimed the deleted data consisted of gaming files, however, the use of such software was prohibited under his SHPO.

Coombes was arrested and charged with breaching his SHPO. He pleaded guilty at Northampton Magistrates' Court on February 11th and received a one-year prison sentence.