A CONVICTED paedophile was caught living in the same house as small children, York Crown Court heard.

It was the fourth time Joe Walter Jackson, 25, had broken a court order aimed at protecting youngsters from him, said Brooke Morrison, prosecuting.

The sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) was imposed in 2000 when he was convicted of sexual communication with a child and grooming a child for sexual purposes.

On April 12 this year, a woman who knew about the order saw Jackson in a Selby home where a family lived, despite him being banned from living, staying or being in the same house as children, and being banned from having contact with children under 16 years old.

A young child naked from the waist down came into the living room wanting to have her nappy changed, the court heard.

“The defendant offered to do this,” said Ms Morrison. “The child said 'no, go away'. It was an unusual reaction for this child.”

Jackson also repeatedly went unaccompanied into the room where two children were sleeping to retrieve a kitten, the court heard.

Defence solicitor Graham Parkin said a psychologist who saw Jackson when he was 21 years old assessed him as then having the mental age of a child aged 10 years and one month.

Judge Simon Hickey said: “If you were an adult with the capacity of an adult, this sentencing would be very straightforward. ……… It would be a substantial prison sentence straightaway.”

But Jackson was not, he said.

When the 25-year-old first came before him to be sentenced in May, he deferred sentence to give Jackson a chance to prove that he could behave himself, obey the order and stay out of trouble.

At that hearing York Crown Court heard he was effectively "living" in the children's home. 

On Jackson’s return to York Crown Court, Ms Morrison said he had not breached the order again, nor committed any other offences that the CPS was aware of.

Mr Parkin said Jackson had worked with probation and police to tackle his offending and the consequences, including “social media issues”.

The judge declared Jackson had repaid the trust placed in him in May and suspended a 13-month prison sentence for 12 months on condition Jackson does 15 days’ rehabilitative activities.

“You are wearing a tag which pinpoints your whereabouts at any time and you are compliant with that. That removes the risk of you going into any house with a child," he said. 

Jackson, formerly of Victoria Court, Albemarle Back Road, Scarborough, pleaded guilty to breaching the SHPO.

He had previously breached the order three times in 2021.

The court heard Jackson had completed nationally accredited rehabilitation programmes.