Paedophile hounded by online campaign is jailed for living under a false name

Richard Lister gave the woman a fake name after meeting online and failed to tell her about his sordid past, Leeds Crown Court heard. The 32-year-old is subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and is on the sex offender register until 2029.

For March to August this year, the woman thought his name was “Robert Jones” and he would regularly stay at her home where she had three young children. This put him in breach of both the SHPO and the terms of the register, which he admitted.

He was discovered after the police were called out following a “domestic incident” on August 30, prosecutor Ayesha Smart said.

Lister, who was from the Wakefield area, was convicted in 2019 of four offences, including exposure, and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He was given a seven-month jail sentence, suspended for 24 months, as well as the SHPO and put on the register.

Mitigating, Joel Wootton said since his conviction in 2019 he has “effectively been chased from one address to another”.

He added: “He has had to move address after his previous address was circulated on social media. When he moved into a new address he did not take the documentation with him and did not have the precise wording of the order. That’s not to minimise his responsibility – it is his responsibility to have it with him.

"He was not aware that staying at an address that had children was prohibited by that order. As soon as he realised that he entered guilty pleas.”

He said that Lister, now of Bronte Walk, Bridlington, has ADHD and mild learning difficulties.

The judge, Recorder David Gordon said of the woman with whom Lister had been staying: “She had no idea you were a registered sex offender. No doubt it would have had a significant effect on her had you told her.”

He jailed Lister for 14 months and told him: “The public must have confidence that orders of these kind are taken seriously. Appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.”