Cambridge Paedophile Jailed for Breaching Court Orders

A Cambridge paedophile, Thomas Turney (41), was jailed for three years after breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and Sex Offender Register notification requirements multiple times.

Turney was arrested in March this year, just hours before he was due to be sentenced for previous breaches of his court orders. He had been communicating with online child activist groups on a dating app, and had also engaged in sexually explicit conversations with adults pretending to be underage girls.

In one instance, Turney asked an adult posing as a 13-year-old girl for naked photos. He also asked another adult pretending to be a 13-year-old if she wanted sex with him and requested a picture. Additionally, he asked someone posing as a 14-year-old if they wanted to be a "whore" and repeatedly asked another posing as a 13-year-old if she wanted a boyfriend, stating that 13 is not too young.

These actions violated his SHPO, which prohibited him from communicating with any child he had not met in person or should reasonably be aware to be under 18.

Further investigation revealed that Turney had been using multiple dating apps and social media platforms under different names, failing to inform police about them as required by his Sex Offender Register notification requirements. He had also used a profile picture of a blonde woman wearing a revealing dress, despite being prohibited from using any profile picture that was not his own.

DC Andrew McKeane stated that Turney clearly knew the requirements of his orders but deliberately disregarded them. "He is a risk to children," McKeane said. "I am grateful that we were alerted to this illegal behaviour which in turn brought about a swift guilty plea."

Cambridgeshire Constabulary emphasized their zero-tolerance approach to such crimes and their commitment to protecting vulnerable children both online and offline. Turney's new 10-year SHPO will allow for continued monitoring and enforcement of his restrictions upon his release from prison.