Ex-councillor admits flouting sex offender order
BBCAn ex-councillor who was jailed for child sex offences has admitted flouting legal requirements issued as part of his punishment.
William Kirkbride, 61, was jailed in 2022 for starting a sexual a conversation with what he believed was a 14-year-old boy boy on dating app Grindr.
Along with his 28-month prison sentence, Kirkbride was made subject to the strict conditions of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and sex offender notification requirements.
He appeared at Carlisle Magistrates' Court on Thursday to admit eight breaches of the orders, including by not declaring new online profiles to police and failing to register new internet devices with officers.
Kirkbride, who had served as a Labour member on Copeland Borough Council, sent explicit messages to an undercover police officer he believed to be a 14-year-old boy.
Initial chat on the Grindr app had quickly turned sexual, a judge heard, with Kirkbride saying he was "in need of some fun".
When the "boy" gave their age as 14 and asked whether he was "too young", Kirkbride responded by saying "the law is clear on that but who follows the law these days", the court heard.
Kirkbride was arrested by police after arranging to meet the "boy" at a train station, and was jailed after he admitted a charge of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.
Facebook alias
At sentencing in 2022, Recorder Ian Unsworth KC told Kirkbride he was a "predatory paedophile" who must follow a sexual harm prevention order and sign the sex offender register indefinitely.
Kirkbride then had a legal obligation to keep police up to date with personal information and possession of electronic devices.
However Kirkbride, from Whitehaven, failed to declare an email address and three online usernames including a Facebook alias of Alex Walsh, along with a bank account and credit card.
He had also failed to tell police within a specified three-day time window that he was in possession of a Samsung phone and two other internet-enabled devices.
The offences were committed between September 2021 and Wednesday.
Kirkbride told officers he did not declare the phone because he thought it would be taken off him, prosecutor Diane Jackson said.
Kirkbride was been remanded in custody ahead of sentencing at Carlisle Crown Court on 13 March.
He admitted five breaches of the notification requirements and three in relation to flouting the SHPO.
