A convicted sex offender’s bid to change his sexual harm prevention order has been delayed – in part by the ‘vagaries of the post’.
Joshua de Banks, 24, who has now changed his name by deed poll to Hunter Lee Swift, appeared before Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday morning to ask for the court order to be amended.
But Judge Ian Pringle QC adjourned the case for a week after it emerged that a statement from a Thames Valley Police order responding to de Banks’ request to amend the order had not been placed on the court file and neither the court nor the police had received a letter from the defendant replying to the public protection unit sergeant’s statement.
De Banks told the judge he had posted a copy of his letter from HMP Bullingdon to the crown court on Saturday.
He acknowledged it was unlikely to have reached the judge in time – ‘post in this place being horrendous’ – and offered to read his statement over the video link from the Bicester jail, where he is currently serving a two year sentence for breaching the same sexual harm prevention order he hopes the judge will amend.
Judge Pringle told de Banks that he didn’t have to explain ‘the vagaries of the post’. But as the issues with the absent paperwork mounted, he added: “It’s becoming pretty clear to me we’re not in a position to proceed today. Ms Tracey Tinsley [for Thames Valley Police] hasn’t got your response. I haven’t seen Sgt Mabbott’s statement that was only served on Friday.”
He adjourned the case to August 23. Earlier, Ms Tinsley, acting for the police made it clear that de Banks’ application to amend his sexual harm prevention order was opposed.
Judge Pringle was not told in open court how de Banks wished to amend the order.
His sexual harm prevention order was first imposed in 2019 after de Banks, formerly of Field Avenue, Oxford, was convicted of exchanging explicit messages with a child. Initially imposed for life, the Court of Appeal later reduced the length of the order to 10 years.
In May this year he received a two-year jail sentence for multiple breaches of the order.
Those breaches included using library computers, which do not save their internet history, and using a friend’s phone to access WhatsApp and his emails within two months of being released from prison. He also had a smartphone, eventually found beneath his oven, that he had not told police about.
Jailing him, Judge Michael Gledhill QC described the defendant as a ‘consummate liar’ – adding: “You can’t help yourself [from] telling lies.”
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
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