A disgraced former special constable turned convicted sex offender is back behind bars for breaching a court order by deleting flirty messages he’d exchanged with a teenage girl.
Jack Baxter, now 28, had been on duty as a trained police volunteer in Lancashire when he committed the underlying crimes by engaging in sexual interaction with what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl while at work.
Baxter was arrested in November, 2016, as part of an investigation by Lancashire Constabulary’s online child abuse investigation team.
In October, 2017, a Preston Crown Court judge imposed an immediate 15-month jail term after Baxter, then of Manchester, admitted two offences of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act, and misconduct in public office.
As part of his punishment, Baxter was made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) which remains in force.
He was brought back to court in 2019 for unlawful possession of electronic equipment as he sought to contact females using social media, and was ordered to complete 24 months’ rehabilitation work under probation service supervision.
In January this year he was jailed for six months having deleted internet history, on two separate dates, after accessing the male-only Grindr app.
And Baxter was today (fri) handed another six-month prison term at Carlisle Crown Court for copycat offending which occurred after he was released from custody.
This emerged as offender managers visited Baxter at his address in Highgate, Kendal, on 7 August. He excused himself to visit the toilet and was found to have deleted social media chat which also involved a 17-year-old girl.
Baxter told the officers: “I panicked, I deleted them.”
That conversation was not the subject to any criminal charges. But Baxter admitted breaching the SHPO having deleted the messages and also pleaded guilty to possessing an indecent image of a child.
Defence barrister Anthony Parkinson said Baxter was “realistic” about his fate in view of the previous breaches. His relationship had broken down and he had lost his accommodation as a result of the latest offending, for which he apologised to his offender managers.
Judge Richard Archer had observed during the hearing: “It is his own conduct that makes it serious in terms of persistence and sneakiness. He almost always approaches every visit by the offender management team with suspicion. He invites suspicion on him.”
Baxter had previously studied criminology at university in Lancaster before gaining employment as a special constable. He had been based in Lancashire police’s west division, which covers Morecambe, Fleetwood and Blackpool.
