August 4, 2020 11.49 am This story is over 43 months old

Sex offender jailed again after breaching court order

Last summer he was caught by paedophile hunters
Matthew Verity has been jailed. Photo: Lincolnshire Police

A registered sex offender, who was jailed last summer after being caught by a paedophile hunter, is now back behind bars for breaching a court order by deleting dating apps from his phone.

Matthew Verity, 42, appeared at Peterborough Crown Court on August 3 where he was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order at a former hearing.

Verity was caught in a sting operation in 2019 when he linked up with what he thought was a 14-year-old boy.

He contacted the “boy”, who was actually a paedophile hunter, and despite being told he was only 14, discussed what he would like to do sexually and about meeting him. He also asked for a naked photo of the “boy” and sent a picture of his own genitalia.

Verity, who was living in Stamford when he was jailed last year but is now based in Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and placed on the Sex Offenders Register in 2016 after being convicted of a sexual assault.

He was visited at his home address in Wesleyan Road in Dogsthorpe on Sunday, July 12 by officers from the north-based Public Protection Unit (PPU) as part of a routine check on registered sex offenders living within Cambridgeshire.

Cambridgeshire Police said one of the restrictions as part of his SHPO is that he must not delete any internet history.

However, on inspection of his phone officers found evidence Verity had deleted WhatsApp messages and the dating apps Grindr and Tinder.

Detective Sergeant Paul Stimpson, from Cambridgeshire Police’s Public Protection Unit, said: “From the point of his conviction Verity was allocated a member of my team to monitor him, meaning they pay him regular unannounced visits, check he is not breaching any of his conditions and monitor his electronic devices.

“These measures are in place to ensure public safety and the team are very thorough with their inspections, hence the discovery of Verity’s breaches.”