A convicted Carlisle sex offender has admitted breaching a court order by dressing up as Santa Claus and handing presents to children from a makeshift grotto at a church Christmas party he helped to arrange.
Darren McGuinness, 48, was punished at the city’s crown court in May 2011, for downloading indecent images of children.
As part of the sentencing exercise, McGuinness was made subject to the strict terms of a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) aimed at preventing repeat offending.
But at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court this morning, McGuinness pleaded guilty to two breaches of that order.
Court papers show that on Saturday, October 30, last year, he did so first by organising and attending a family Halloween party in the city. Weeks later, on Saturday, December 18, McGuinness dressed up as Santa Claus and handed out gifts to children inside a makeshift grotto at a church Christmas party.
In both cases, he was aware there would be under-16s present at the functions in Carlisle.
Prosecutor Malcolm Isherwood said in court of the offending: “He has, in the view of the Crown, deliberately placed himself in situations whereby he was going to come into contact with children under the age of those specified in the order (16 years).
“He did so by starting to attend a church and he there volunteered to work in the community kitchen without disclosing this conviction.
“He then offered to organise a family Halloween party at the church. In December he helped to organise and run a family Christmas party, including him playing the role of Santa Claus in the grotto.”
Concluding that the sentencing starting point for just one breach was 12 months’ imprisonment, District Judge John Temperley formed the view that his sentencing powers got the two matters were insufficient.
The district judge committed the case for sentence to Carlisle Crown Court. McGuinness, of Fairfield Gardens, Carlisle, is due to appear there on May 13, and was granted unconditional bail in the meantime.
*McGuinness was previously sentenced for flouting the SOPO, in 2016.
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