Elswick sex offender learns his fate after staying at home of mum-of-3 breaching order

Landscaping boss Stuart Throp admitted staying at the home of his girlfriend, who has three kids aged three to 11, when he appeared before a judge in Preston.

He also pleaded guilty to messaging the oldest child on WhatsApp, breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed by a court four years ago.

The city’s Crown Court was told the 53-year-old, from Elswick had been made the subject of the SHPO in 2022 after being convicted of four offences of encouraging a female child under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity.

He was put on the Sex Offenders’ List for 10 years, requiring him to register any address where he is staying for seven days or more. He was also required to notify police of any address where he stays for more than 12 hours where a child regularly stays.

Throp began a relationship with the mother-of-three and had stayed at her address more than 30 times when the children were present, but had not disclosed this to police.

Despite deleting the WhatsApp conversation with the woman’s 11-year-old daughter it had been discovered when the child’s phone was examined. Although the messages were not of a sexual nature, they still breached the SHPO.

Judge Richard Gioserano heard Throp had not been in trouble with the courts until his late forties. The original sex offences were committed during Covid lockdown.

He had been in a long-term relationship with a woman which had declined and then come to an end. Then he got into another relationship with the mother of three who had drug issues.

Throp had wanted to help her and provide for her and that was the main reason behind the relationship.

His defence counsel told the judge: “He recognises he is guilty. He apologises. He regrets what he did.

“He knows he has made a mistake. He is utterly ashamed. But he was just trying to help someone else rather than having a sexual motive.”

Judge Gioserano told Throp: “I am giving you the benefit of the doubt. Your interest was in (the woman) herself, whatever that may have been, and not in her children. That makes this case less serious than it might have been.”

The judge said that despite it being out of a desire to assist the woman, it made no difference “because you were not in a position to choose”.

He added: “Because of your previous sexual offending you don’t get to choose freely with those you have a relationship with.

“You knew she had three children. That should have been enough. That should have been the end of it and you shouldn’t have allowed it to develop any further.”

Judge Gioserano said the woman had written him a letter. “You are lucky to have her,” he told Throp. “She continues to see the good in you and continues to see a future. Her faith in you plays a large part in my reason to suspend your sentence.”

He gave Throp a 16-month prison sentence suspended for two years. He also ordered him to complete 180 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation activity days.

But he warned him: “If you breach this you will find yourself back here and at risk of going back into prison. You have to stay out of trouble. It sounds simple. We will see if it is or not.”

The Sexual Harm Prevention Order will remain in force for a further seven years.