Sex offender pestered teenage girl after finding her number on a bus

A prolific sex offender has avoided another jail sentence for pestering a teenage girl after finding her phone number written at the back of a bus.
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Joseph Brian Parkin said he was "bored" on the public service when he spotted the number and began sending her text messages.

As a result, the 22-year-old breached a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which prohibited him from having contact with anyone under the age of 16 without supervision.

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The order was put in place because of his previous offending, which was not outlined in court.

Parkin avoided jail for messaging and calling the girl (library pic).Parkin avoided jail for messaging and calling the girl (library pic).
Parkin avoided jail for messaging and calling the girl (library pic).

But prosecutor Vincent Blake-Barnard told Leeds Crown Court that Parkin could be described as a 'prolific sex offender', and had breached the order several times before, resulting in him being sent to prison.

He said that at around 5.55pm on November 9 last year , Parkin had spotted the number at the back of the Wakefield/Leeds bus service and so sent a message.

Mr Blake-Barnard said: "He sent numerous messages and tried to find out her age.

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"He said he was trying to be helpful. The child was very clear that she wanted him to stop contacting her and delete the number."

When he found out she was 15, he told her he wanted to get to know her but was not the sort of person who wanted to "jump into bed with every woman".

The child then told her mother, who rang Parkin and made it clear that he should stop the messages, but he persisted and made calls until the number was blocked.

The matter was reported to the police and Parkin, of William Prince Grove, Wakefield, was arrested.

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During interview, he fully admitted sending the texts and knew he should have stopped.

He admitted breaching his SHPO.

Mitigating for Parkin, Aqsa Hussain said: "They were not sexual messages in his opinion, but the nature of his messages were immature.

"It all happened in a couple of hours and was not persistent.

"He does not recognise the impact of that behaviour"

She said Parkin suffered from Asperger's, a form of autism, which was diagnosed when he was just three.

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He has been sent to jail on four occasions, but Miss Hussain said he had never had the help to address his issues.

Judge Neil Clark resisted sending him to prison again, and said: "You have a bad record. It's clear there are maturity issues that contribute to your behaviour.

"Every time you have been given an immediate sentence you have offended again. I'm going to take a chance."

He handed Parkin a 16-month sentence, suspended for two years, and told him he must undertake a sexual offenders programme, but warned him: "If you breach this, or if you mess about then you will get the 16 months."