A homeless sex offender was caught breaking the law again when he voluntarily went to a police station in search of accommodation.
Ahmed Al-Razawe, 27, was originally punished at Carlisle Crown Court in March.
Al-Razawe had been arrested while living at a city centre probation hostel last August. He was already under restrictions after previously being convicted of three sexual offences.
Police in Carlisle seized his phone and discovered he had downloaded four indecent child images, during August last year. He sent one of those illegal images to someone else. After he admitted two criminal charges, Al-Razawe was handed an immediate five-month jail term.
He was also made subject to the strict conditions of sex offender register notification requirements for seven years. This meant he was under a legal obligation to keep police up-to-date with his personal details and whereabouts.
However, Al-Razawe found himself back in a city dock — this time at the Rickergate magistrates’ court — earlier today.
A deputy district judge heard how homeless Al-Razawe had on Saturday visited a police station in Glasgow seeking accommodation.
However, officers in the Scottish city discovered Al-Razawe had failed, without reasonable excuse, to attend a police station within three days of his release from custody. In addition, it emerged he had failed to attend a Carlisle probation appointment, as directed.
In court Al-Razawe, of no fixed address, admitted two breaches.
Defence lawyer Geoff Lockerbie, mitigating, said Syrian national Al-Razawe had arrived in the UK during 2021, crossing the English Channel in a small boat, seeking to try his luck.
“From that point of view he has been remarkably unsuccessful,” said Mr Lockerbie.
It appeared Al-Razawe had applied for and been granted 30 months in which to remain in the UK. But Mr Lockerbie said: “He has no wish to remain in this country. If given the opportunity he would agree to be repatriated in Syria.
“He sees no future for himself in the UK. He accepts that he knew of the (sex offender) notification requirements. He accepts that when he was released from custody last week he did not come to Carlisle but went to Glasgow where he effectively slept on the streets for three days before reporting — voluntarily, it must be said — to the police station on Saturday lunchtime.”
Deputy district judge Steven Jonas concluded that a custodial sentence was unavoidable, and imposed an immediate 18-week jail term.
