Sex offender jailed for selling on secret devices

A convicted sex offender who kept secret devices before selling them on has been jailed for repeatedly breaching his court order.

Harry Palmer, 22, was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order when he was previously convicted of offences against a teenage girl.

The order, which had been amended as a result of a previous breach, gave police the power to monitor all his electronic devices and also prohibited him from having any contact with girls under the age of 18.

Detectives launched an investigation after learning from the probation service that Palmer had sold a MacBook laptop without gaining permission from the police.

Inquiries found he had sold a MacBook laptop, a Samsung tablet and a Huawei mobile phone to CEX stores in Coventry and Bulwell.

Nottingham Crown Court heard the items were sold for a combined sum of £142 across three separate dates in August 2023 – and that he’d kept the Samsung tablet and Huawei mobile phone a secret from the authorities.  

When his address was searched, officers found four bank cards that also had not been registered with the police – again putting him in breach of the court order.

Palmer, formerly of Astral Grove, Hucknall, later admitted to three counts of breaching his sexual harm prevention order and four counts of failing to comply with notification requirements.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on 30 August he was jailed for two years.

Palmer had only recently been released from prison on licence for previous breaches of the order and drugs offences.

Detective Constable Richard Johnson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:

“Safeguarding vulnerable young people is a key priority for Nottinghamshire Police and we take a very proactive approach to monitoring known offenders.

“These court orders are put in place for a very good reason and we expect them to be obeyed. When we find that they are being flouted so brazenly we will take swift action. As Palmer has just found out there the subsequent punishments can be very severe indeed.

“I hope this case serves as a reminder to other offenders about the potential consequences of attempting to deceive us, and also hope that members of the wider public will be reassured by our ongoing efforts to keep the public safe from harm.”

Sexual Harm Prevention Orders are often applied as part of offenders’ sentences and place strict controls on their behaviour.

Nottinghamshire Police has a specialist team of officers dedicated to managing registered sex offenders in the county.