Former army dog handler avoids immediate custody for breaching Sexual Offences Prevention Order

When the defendant appeared at Craigavon Magistrates Court, a defence lawyer confirmed that the 65-year-old was admitting breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order on November 4 last year.

The details of the charge outlines that the defendant, Andrew Maxwell, stayed overnight at an address in Portadown ‘without prior approval of your designated risk manager, an act you were prohibited from performing under the said Order’.

Opening the facts of the case, a prosecuting lawyer outlined however that the police received a report from Social Services that Maxwell had stayed overnight at a relative’s address where a child was also present.

The child’s parents “relayed their concerns” about Maxwell being there given his previous offending and the fact that he had stayed overnight, the court was told.

When Maxwell was interviewed, he admitted not informing his Designated Risk Manager.

A defence lawyer said that Maxwell had been visiting the relative when he took unwell so feeling that he was unable to drive home, he had gone to lie down.

"He did not intend to stay the night,” said the lawyer, conceding that Maxwell ought to have informed his Designated Risk Manager.

"I suspect that with a child in the house, that stay would not have been approved,” District Judge Michael Ranaghan told the solicitor.

The Sexual Offences Prevention Order was put in place in December 2022 when Maxwell, whose address was listed as Ashlea Court in Lisburn, was sentenced for a catalogue of offences relating to indecent images of children.

Ordered to serve 10 months in custody and the same period subject to licence conditions, Maxwell had admitted 20 counts of making indecent images of children, two of distributing level A and B images on various dates between January 1, 2010 and May 11, 2017, and 13 counts of being in possession of extreme pornography.

In addition, he entered a guilty plea to trying to incite a girl to look at a pornographic image of people having sex on August 27, 2012.

During the original plea and sentence, Craigavon Crown Court heard how officers from the police child protection team, searched Maxwell’s home under a warrant in May 2017 and seized 19 electronic devices including a mobile phone and a laptop.

Prosecuting counsel Joseph Murphy said that between those two devices, police uncovered close to 200 indecent images.

Those included 22 category A images and two videos, including one where a 12-year-old girl is “dressed in degrading clothing”, lying on a bed, involved in an act of bestiality.

In addition, Maxwell also had 132 extreme pornographic images.

According to legal guidelines, images classified at level A depict penetrative sexual acts, including rape and can involve aspects of sadomasochism, while extreme pornography mainly relates to images involving bestiality but can also include images which are particular gross or offensive, or where a person’s life is in danger.

It also transpired that Maxwell had concocted a fake profile, of a 42-year-old woman named as Leslie Crisp, to take part in online chat forums.

Examination of the devices uncovered a chat log where Leslie Crisp talked to another user, “about raping her four year old daughter” and shared a category A image.

In another chat, seemingly with a 15-year-old girl, Maxwell talks explicitly about sexual intercourse and sent the girl three category A indecent images.

When arrested and interviewed, Maxwell admitted what he had done, accepting that he had created the profile Leslie Crisp “trying to get things started.”

Mr Murphy told the court that the offences were aggravated given the ages of some of the children depicted, some of whom were as young as six years old.

In addition, Maxwell had shared and distributed images, plus the chat logs uncovered on his devices, “display a very graphic” interest in the abuse of children, the court was told.

Jailing Maxwell in December 2022, Judge Patrick Lynch KC emphasised: “For every photograph it is trite to say there is an abused child.

"For many of the persons who appear before the court, they seem to self-excuse on the basis that the abuse has already taken place. The photograph has been taken and, therefore, it is an event passed.

"This, of course, is distorted thinking. By virtue of involvement in this trade it ensures that abuse will continue, and such materials exist because there is a market for it.

“That is why severe and deterrent sentences are required in this area for these offences,” added Judge Lynch.

In Craigavon Magistrates Court on Friday, District Judge Michael Ranaghan said it appeared to him that Maxwell has “little understanding” of the Sexual Offences Prevention Order and of its requirements.

He suggested to Maxwell that he get in contact with his Designated Risk Manager so that he is clear on the conditions.

The district judge said while “the custody threshold is passed”, given the nature of the breach he would impose a suspended sentence.

Imposing a three-month sentence which he suspended for a year, the district judge told the court that should “reinforce the importance of complying and fully understanding” the terms of the Sexual Offences Prevention Order.