A registered sex offender who had online chats with teenage boys, despite an order imposed against him, is now behind bars once again
Twenty one year old Mark Lee of Greenbrow Road, has been sentenced to five years in prison with an extended licence period.
He has also been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life, with an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed off.
Lee’s victims disclosed to him that they were under 16, and he knowingly continued to target children in an online chatroom using a prohibited device.
Following his conviction for indecent image offences in 2023, where he received a suspended sentence, Lee was banned from having contact with anyone under the age of 18 and prohibited from possessing any images of anyone under the age of 18. He was also subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to comply with.
In 2022, Lee began contacting a 13-year-old boy. When using the chatroom app to speak to this boy, Lee coerced him into sending explicit pictures. He also paid a total of £1,200 to him, to try and encourage the boy into sending more explicit images.
The boy tried to break things off with Lee, sensing that Lee was not 17 years old like he had originally told him. In attempts to continue speaking to the boy, Lee set up another social media account and pretended to be his own sister to communicate with the teenage boy saying to him that Lee was a good brother and good person and encouraged the boy to start speaking to him again.
At the same time, Lee was speaking to another teenage boy using the same chatroom. It was uncovered that Lee used age filters to target specifically 13-year-old teenage boys, and was pretending to be a teenager himself.
He was first arrested in November 2023 by DC Dan Foy, and placed on bail for further enquiries. However he kept up online contact and even went to meet one the boys in February 2024.
Once further intelligence came to light, we swiftly arrested him in April 2024, after his Offender Manager was made aware of a report he had made about being a victim of fraud. He reported that he’d never been paid for a laptop he sold on Ebay, but of course we knew that he should not have had that device in the first place.
On arrest, his mobile phone was inspected and found to contain images showing young teenage boys. From this, officers were able to find his victims through detective work to trace the school uniforms on a UK database along with some conducting some investigations on the phone data.
He was subsequently charged with multiple sexual offences, including engaging in sexual communication with a child, cause or incite a boy age 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity, possession of indecent images of children and meeting a young boy following grooming, as well as repeated breaches of a sexual harm prevention order.
Investigative assistant and case manager Orla Lynch, of GMP’s Sex Offender Management Unit, said: “We know by nature that many offenders can be extremely deceptive and take bigger and bigger risks over time to satisfy their own needs.
“Lee had every opportunity to attempt rehabilitation back into society following his past conviction, but it is clear that he had complete disregard for the order placed on him, our team, and most importantly, the two teenage boys he abused. He shamelessly did everything he could to fulfil his abominable desires.
“As a unit, we have massively improved the way that we manage sex offenders in the community and in the last 12 months alone, have conducted over 4,000 visits on registered sex offenders. Whenever we become aware of breaches, as in this case, we make arrests quickly, and work closely with our criminal justice partners to ensure we bring as many offenders before the courts as possible.
“Officers and staff in our Sex Offender Management Unit conducted almost 10,000 visits in the last year alone, showing the team’s relentless commitment to ensuring the safer management of offenders.
“Lee’s offending has been traumatising to his young victims, who have been supported throughout, and will now need to try move on with their lives after they have been turned upside down. He is a clear danger to society and this sentence today reflects this.
“Protecting children comes above all else, and we take no second chances when a breach is committed.”
