Convicted sex offender Aled Jones sent back to prison after police find he had set up social media accounts

Aled Jones, 36, of Alyn Meadow in Mold, has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for breaching the terms of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order and failing to comply with notification requirements.

Prosecutor Thomas McLoughlin said that Jones hid seven profiles across different social media and dating apps, which he was forbidden from doing after being previously sentenced for a sex offence in July 2020.

As part of his punishment, the court ordered that the police be given full knowledge of any social media sites he was signed up for as well as the passwords to the accounts. However, Jones failed to comply with these requirements.

In June 2022, police found that he had been chatting over WhatsApp with who he said were two adult women. He claimed that they had only spoken online, but police discovered a picture of one of the women on his sofa.

Police also found another message indicating that he intended to meet a second woman in Wrexham that same day. A further analysis of his device uncovered a number of social media and dating site accounts, putting him in immediate breach of his court order.

The defendant had also used a filesharing site that was not allowed following his conviction. When questioned, he accepted having the accounts.

Defending, Andrew Green, said that Jones' client had clearly violated his court order in a "deliberate and persistent" way. However, he added that there was "no evidence of unlawful material" found on Jones' device during the analysis.

Recorder Wyn Lloyd Jones imposed the jail sentence, saying that Jones had "brought this whole mess" on himself. He added: "You had a life with a family and a good job and you threw it all away."