In this report from 2021, Melissa Wilson (listed in court records as Paul Wilson, also known as Melissa Wilson), aged 34, of Liverpool, was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
The criminal investigation commenced after Merseyside Police received information that Wilson had been routinely accessing public computer systems across municipal libraries in Liverpool.
The court heard that between 10 July and 23 October 2019, Wilson attended Liverpool Central Library and Toxteth Library on 86 separate days.
Wilson bypassed security firewalls to use the Russian search engine Yandex and accessed unmoderated chat platforms such as Chatango.
Digital forensic evidence revealed that Wilson entered search terms relating to child pornography, child fetish material involving children aged three to five in underwear, and accessed chatrooms designed for adolescents, including Alo Chat.
The offending was brought to the attention of authorities when Wilson’s probation officer received a detailed confession letter written under an alter ego, describing the methods used to defeat library computer protections.
The court was told that Wilson had a long-standing history of sexual offending, with six previous convictions for 39 offences, including a 2008 conviction for making indecent images of children and an eight-year extended determinate sentence imposed in 2015 for threats to kill and possessing prohibited images.
Appearing before Liverpool Crown Court, Wilson pleaded guilty to:
- One count of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order
Judge David Swinnerton handed Wilson a total custodial sentence of 32 months’ imprisonment, made her subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), and ordered lifetime registration on the Sex Offenders Register.
Release Calculation: Under UK sentencing legislation for sexual offenders, Wilson was required to serve two-thirds (21.3 months / 1 year and 9 months) of her 32-month sentence in prison custody before becoming eligible for statutory release on licence, running alongside an active licence recall period.
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