Registered sex offender sent back to prison for deleting search history

A 53-year-old man has been sent back to prison after he admitted to breaching the terms of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

John Willoughby, previously of Towcester, was issued with a SHPO in 2012 after he was convicted of sexual offences involving a child under 16.

The SHPO was issued with certain conditions he was required to abide by, including not deleting any internet search history.

However, in April this year, Willoughby was found to be talking to an adult online about his sexual interest in children.

What he didn’t realise however, was that the profile he was communicating with was actually a police officer.

He was arrested and subsequently charged with two counts of breaching his SHPO.

Willoughby pleaded guilty to both charges at an earlier hearing at Northampton Crown Court before returning to the same court last month (October 15) where he was sentenced to one year and four months in prison.

Lead investigator – Detective Constable Jon Brawn from Force’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team, said: “John Willoughby’s online conversations were extremely concerning as well as a blatant breach of the order put in place to protect the public from him.

“I am pleased that he was caught out and brought to justice, and I hope this case demonstrates the proactivity of our teams to ensure we safeguard the children in this county and put any offenders behind bars.”