A twenty-two-year-old man from Pembroke Dock has been handed a community order in court after breaching a sexual harm risk order.

Tristan Stephen McCauley of Bush Street, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday to plead guilty to the charge after he admitted purchasing a mobile phone without notifying the police authorities, something he was prohibited from doing after being handed a sexual risk order back in December of last year.

Prosecutor Linda Baker told the court that after acquiring the mobile, following an examination of the smart phone by police officers, it was identified that the defendant had acquired a cloud storage account, and downloaded social media apps such as Facebook and Snapchat.

The court heard that Mr. McCauley had been handed the order at the end of last year after it was discovered that he had downloaded two indecent Category A images of children.

The prosecutor said that on this occasion he had set up a profile under a different name on his new mobile and on searching the phone, police had come across around 500 chat logs to other numbers where the defendant was asking for photos and videos of a sexual nature to be sent to him.

Defence solicitor Mike Kelleher told the court that the defendant who previously attended Monkton Junior school before going to the local comprehensive school had struggled during his education, and suffered with learning difficulties.

“A detailed report states that he has very few friends and is ‘bored and lonely’. He experienced learning difficulties throughout school and doesn’t participate in outdoor activities,” continued Mr. Kelleher.

“He lives with his grandparents and his mother lives next door. He also has six siblings that live in a different household.

“Tristan has a medical problem with his feet which has contributed to his problems as he had tried for several jobs but is required to wear special footwear.

“The proposal in the report is that he needs considerable structure. He is seen as a risk, and that risk has to be managed.

“He is very fearful of imprisonment and his mother is fearful of how he might be treated should he go to prison.

“Boredom is part of the problem and I think that unpaid work as part of a community order would keep him engaged,” added Mr. Kelleher.

On sentencing, magistrates told the defendant that there was a lot to take in about the case and one option was to send him to prison, before handing him a 12 month community order, with a 30 day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, and 200 hours of unpaid work in the community to be supervised by a responsible officer.

“You will be speaking to your probation officer a lot, and if any of that trips up then it is highly likely that you will go to prison,” the chairman of the magistrates bench told Mr. McCauley who was placed on the sex offenders register for 21 months and told to register with the police in accordance with the Sexual Offences Act.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £90 victim surcharge.