A family has been left feeling ‘sick and betrayed’ after finding out their new friend was a convicted paedophile.
Stefan Foy failed to disclose his seedy past before staying the night at a the family's home where their kids slept.
Under Foy's previous court order the 29-year-old was obliged to inform police if he was planning to be in a household with children after previously being caught with indecent images of minors.
However, Foy spent several nights staying at the couple's home, which brought him into close contact with their three children.
It put him in breach of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) which he had been made the subject of at Chester Crown Court in 2017.
The defendant, of Cherry Tree Lane, Biddulph Moor, also deleted the internet history from his mobile phone, which he is banned from doing, after using the dating app Grindr.
Prosecutor at Stoke Crown Court, Olivia Whitworth, revealed police made an unannounced visit to Foy’s address to conduct a risk assessment on January 11.
She said: “He told them he had become friends with a couple in the Stoke-on-Trent area. He said they had no children and were unaware of his previous convictions. They asked if he had contact with children and he said ‘no’.
“They inspected his phone - there was a Facebook friend pictured with three young children. They became concerned and proceeded to look through the phone further and questioned him further. He became nervous. He said he had met the children from a distance. He was arrested.”
The court heard Foy’s two "new friends" had children, and he had slept over at their house after meeting them through his new boyfriend, according to Stoke-on-Trent Live.
They said they felt "sick" and "betrayed" when they were made aware of his convictions.
Ms Whitworth added: “He was not in unsupervised contact with the children. One friend said he was ‘very good’ with them. He took her partner to collect the children from school on two occasions.”
Foy pleaded guilty to breaching a SHPO and failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders’ register.
He declined the chance to be represented by a solicitor in court, but told the court: “I didn’t think about what I was doing at the time. I got carried away with the situation. It all got to me over Christmas. By the time I could do anything about it, it was too late.”
Sentencing, Judge David Fletcher told Foy: “It was a breach of a SHPO. You accept responsibility for this. This is the first breach in any way.”
Foy was handed an 18-month community order with 55 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 100 hours unpaid work. He must also pay £340 costs.
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