A convicted paedophile who previously arranged an overnight hotel visit with someone he believed was a 14-year-old boy has avoided an immediate prison term at Warrington Magistrates’ Court after failing to register his details with police.
Trevor Griffiths appeared for sentence after entering a guilty plea to an offence of failing to comply with annual sex offender notification requirements.
The court was told that Griffiths breached his statutory obligations under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 by failing, without reasonable excuse, to provide his required annual registration update to Cheshire Constabulary within the designated 12-month timeframe.
Griffiths was previously handed a 20-month prison sentence in March 2021 after being caught in a specialist undercover police operation. In January 2019, using the pseudonym “Tom”, Griffiths engaged in sexually explicit messaging with an undercover operative posing as a 14-year-old child. The communications detailed arrangements to fly the child to Belfast, visit the cinema and McDonald’s, and share a hotel room overnight—exchanges characterised during legal proceedings as predatory and appalling. In a separate exchange with an officer posing as a 17-year-old, Griffiths provided his genuine identity and telephone number, enabling detectives to trace him. Subsequent search warrants executed at his home resulted in the seizure of three smartphones containing 63 indecent images of children and 77 extreme pornographic files.
Following his release from that custodial sentence, Griffiths appeared at court in February 2022 after failing to complete his registration requirements upon release, receiving a four-month prison term suspended for two years.
Under the provisions of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 and Section 49 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, all children depicted in abuse imagery and any child decoys or witnesses involved in criminal proceedings are protected by automatic, lifelong statutory anonymity. Publishing, broadcasting, or disseminating any details, names, addresses, or images capable of leading to the public identification of protected parties is strictly prohibited under UK law.
Griffiths pleaded guilty to:
Failing to comply with annual sex offender notification requirements
The magistrates’ bench imposed an 18-month community order requiring Griffiths to complete 26 rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) days under the direction of the Probation Service. Griffiths was additionally ordered to pay a £120 fine alongside £85 in court costs.
Alongside the community penalty, the court confirmed:
Continued, mandatory compliance with notification requirements on the Sex Offenders Register under the provisions of the Sexual Offences Act 2003
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