Prison sentence for paedophile who lost a second chance by violating sexual offences law

A paedophile was imprisoned after failing to take advantage of a second chance granted to him by the court.

Mark Jennings was spared a prison sentence in May 2018 when a judge sentenced him to probation and community service.

But the 58-year-old threw this opportunity at the court’s feet after he was again caught with disgusting images of child sexual abuse.

He was subsequently charged with seven counts of making indecent images of children, two counts of possessing such images and two counts of possessing prohibited images of children.

He was also charged with two counts of violating a sexual abuse protection order imposed on him following his previous conviction and a single count of failing to comply with the requirements of his sex offender registry.

Jennings admitted all offences at Chester Magistrates’ Court, the case was referred to Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing and the defendant was remanded in custody.

The Crown Court heard how he was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register in May 2019 and served with a sexual harm prevention order.

This came after authorities discovered his vile collection of indecent images of children and he was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.

During a review on May 4, 2022, Jennings was found to be in possession of additional disgusting images of sexually abused children.

Examples were found in all three categories, including Category A – the most serious classification related to child rape.

Authorities also found prohibited images of children that either focus on a child’s genitals or show a sexual act in which either a child is actively involved or a child himself.

Prohibited images cannot be photographs or Photoshopped photos, i.e. sketches, paintings, cartoons or other unreal “representations” of a person.

In addition, Jennings was found to have extremely pornographic images featuring animals that were described as “extremely offensive, repulsive or otherwise obscene.”

The court also heard how the defendant had breached his sexual violence prevention order by using a VPN and failed to register his username Purplegrape58 with the police, thereby breaching his obligation to sign the sex offenders register.

Taking all the circumstances into account, a judge sentenced Jennings, of Payne Close, Hood Manor, to an immediate term of 30 months’ imprisonment.

Cheshire Police declined a request from the Warrington Guardian to publish his mugshot.