Man, 46, sent to prison for breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order

A 46-year-old registered sex offender has been sent to prison after he breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Nigel Clapton, previously of Rothwell, was convicted in May 2024 of arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

He was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register as a result and issued with a SHPO, meaning that he had to abide by some very strict conditions.

These conditions included having to notify police officers of any electronic device capable of accessing the internet and not deleting any browser history.

However, on December 11, 2024, when his mobile phone was seized, officers discovered that his internet history on Google Chrome was only set to retain three months’ worth of activity, as opposed to retaining it indefinitely.

They also noted that the internet history only went back to December 8, meaning he had deleted some of it himself.

He also had the Grinder app and a username of ‘meet now’, which was a further breach of his SHPO as he was required to use his real name on any messaging app, social media site or online chat platform.

Clapton was arrested and charged with five counts of breaching his SHPO.

After pleading guilty to the offences at Northampton Crown Court on December 12, 2024, he returned to the same court this month (February 12) where he was sentenced to one year and ten months in prison.  

Risk Management Officer Felicity Brodie from the MOSOVO team said: “Nigel Clapton showed a complete disregard for the conditions he was supposed to abide by and so I am pleased that he has been jailed.

“These conditions are put in place to ensure that we keep a very close eye on registered sex offenders in order to effectively safeguard the public so when they are breached, we take a zero-tolerance approach.

“I hope this result provides some reassurance to our communities as to how closely registered sex offenders are managed and monitored when they are released from prison, and I want to make it clear that we will continue working hard in the MOSOVO team to fight crime and protect the public.”