A SEX offender who was on early release from jail broke an order to stay away from children when he walked out of his approved accommodation and went to stay with a young mother.
Lewis Stewart breached the terms of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) by staying at the house in Plymouth while the woman’s child was sleeping under the same roof.
He also broke the terms of the sex offenders’ register by failing to tell police about his change of address, Exeter Crown Court heard.
Stewart, who suffers from autism, claimed he had told the mother about his conviction for having sex with a 15-year-old girl and there was no suggestion he had tried to have any physical contact with the child.
He was moved to supervised accommodation in Plymouth in January but moved out within a week after starting to use a legal high called spice.
He was warned he will go to jail if he breaks the SOPO again or fails to work with probation officers on a rehabilitation programme.
Stewart, aged 20, of St Patrick’s Close, Teignmouth, admitted breaching a SOPO and the terms of the register and was ordered to undertake 30 days’ rehabilitation activities and part of a one-year community order.
Recorder Mr John Williams also ordered him to pay £240 costs and told him both orders will continue for ten years.
He told him: ‘You must understand if there is another breach, you will go to prison. When you were released a structure was set up for you and you went to a house in Plymouth.
‘Within five days you left and started taking spice, which led to a breach of your curfew. You felt it was too late to do anything about it and found yourself staying at the house of a lady who had a child.
‘That placed you in breach of the order. Regardless of whether she may or may not have been deceived, I accept nothing happened in relation to the child.
‘You have an appalling record of breaching orders. You must learn that whether you like them or not, you have to comply with them.
‘I am told you now have a new partner and it seems you are becoming more aware of what is going on and realise you need some sort of support. A whole stack of taxpayers’ money is being spent trying to help you.’
Mr Tristan Harwood, prosecuting, said Stewart was jailed for 21 months at Exeter Crown Court in March 2015 for sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl and breaking orders by contacting a 14-year-old young girl.
He was released on January 4 to an address in Plymouth which was approved by the probation service but left it on January 9 after breaking the rules of the house by using legal highs and not keeping a curfew.
He moved into a house with a female friend who had a child. He broke the SOPO by staying overnight in the same house as a child and broke the terms of the register by failing to tell the police of his new address.
Miss Ann Bellchambers, mitigating, said Stewart told the woman whom he was staying with that he had been in jail for having underage sex and had not deceived her about his background.
She said he is now in a settled relationship with a woman who is older than him and has grown up enough to accept the help he needs to cope with his autism.
She said: ‘His new partner is a woman with grown-up children who is a good influence on him. He is beginning to understand how the world works and is avoiding legal highs and drugs.’
Stewart, whose previous address was Third Avenue, Teignmouth, was jailed last year after he admitted six offences of sexual activity with a child and four breaches of a restraining order which prohibited any contact with under age girls.