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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Olivia Williams

Kiss Chat user broke sex order imposed to protect kids

A woman who was sent lingerie by men she met online received child abuse pictures from a paedophile.

Michelle Griffiths previously served a 40 month sentence after she was jailed in May 2019 for facilitating and arranging the commission of a child sex offence. The 38-year-old was also given a sexual harm prevention order for life.

Griffiths, was back in court on Monday after she admitted breaching a number of the conditions of the sexual harm prevention order. Chris Hopkins, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court on Monday that Griffiths was released from prison in January 2021 and was living at Adelaide House in Edge Hill when she admitted breaching the order to authorities in March last year.

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Griffiths admitted receiving money and lingerie from a man on a site called Kiss Chat, which breached the order. This was because she was prohibited from using a device with access to the internet without telling police within 48 hours and because she used a "social networking application or service without first providing her username to police".

The court heard an officer spoke to Griffiths that day under caution. Shortly after this, Griffiths made a further admission to authorities that she had received "indecent images of children by a man she had been talking to" who she described as a "paedophile", prosecutor Mr Hopkins told the court.

He added: "This is a very serious breach to the order and a flagrant disregard to the order. The defendant's own admission that she was communicating with quote unquote paedophiles poses a serious risk and very serious harm to children."

Griffiths, whose address was given as Low Newton Remand Centre in Durham, also said she had sent nude photographs of herself to the man. She admitted to authorities that she deleted the indecent images, which she said were of children aged between 11 and 15 and therefore she breached the sexual harm prevention order further.

The court heard the device was seized but the deleted images could not be retrieved by police. Christopher Macmaster, defending, said Griffiths made "exceptionally frank admissions" to breaching the order.

Mr Macmaster also said Griffiths had already served time in custody after being recalled to prison in March 2021 and was not interviewed by police until January this year. A report also made reference to Griffiths having learning difficulties, however Mr Macmaster said "this does not afford a defence and the defendant knows what she did was wrong."

Judge David Potter said: "This was a very serious breach of your sexual harm prevention order." He also added the breach was a "flagrant disregard" to the order.

The judge said the actions of Griffiths also posed "serious risk of harm to children" due to the men she was communicating with distributing indecent images of children and also the risk that they could want to harm children themselves.

Judge Potter sentenced Griffiths to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching the sexual harm prevention order. He also reminded Griffiths the sexual harm prevention order was in place for life.

A deprivation order for devices which can be used to access the internet and access to child abuse images was also given.

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