Perv jailed - and then bailed - after saying he was '˜ashamed' to tell police he had moved house

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Kevin Sweeney failed to tell police he had moved address saying he was ashamed to, because the police station was busy when he went to register his move.

Sweeney, a 26-year-old labourer, of Hornby Road, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to breaching a Sex Offenders’ Registration Order by failing to notify his new or temporary address within three days. He had two previous convictions for breaking the order.

He was sentenced to 56 days’ prison and ordered to pay £115 victims’ surcharge by Blackpool magistrates.

He shouted out: “It’s ridiculous,” as he was taken down.

Presiding magistrate, Simon Bridge, told him: “Anyone placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register is by definition a danger to society, that is why they have been put on the register.

“We believe it was a deliberate failure on your part not to sign on and tell the authorities you had moved.”

Kathryn Jamieson-Sinclair, defending, then asked for Sweeney to be bailed pending an appeal against his sentence, saying he would lose his accommodation and job if he was jailed.

Magistrates then agreed to bail Sweeney until the result of his appeal at crown court.

He must live at his given address and keep a tagged curfew from 8pm to 6am as conditions of his bail.

Martine Connah, prosecuting, said Sweeney was convicted of sexually assaulting a child, and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register until 2019, in 2012.

He was required to register any address change with police.

Sweeney registered as living at an address in Park Road, Blackpool, but when police checked there in August it was discovered he had moved out three weeks previously.

Kathryn Jamieson-Sinclair, defending, told the court her client had gone to the police station to tell police he was moving.

She said: “It was a particularly busy time and there were a lot of people around. Shame prevented him registering. He left, intending to go back and register at another time.”

Sweeney, who had not made a deliberate attempt to go underground to avoid detection, had turned his life around and got accommodation and a job, she added.