October 20, 2020 2.56 pm This story is over 41 months old

Dangerous Lincoln paedophile back in jail after grooming underage girls

He had child abuse videos on his phone too
Andrew Cook has been jailed for another four years. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police

A convicted Lincolnshire sex offender who continued to message underage girls after he was released from prison was sent back to jail for four years on Tuesday.

Andrew Martin Cook, now 54, was also given an extended licence sentence of three years on his release from prison after a judge concluded that he was “dangerous” and posed a significant risk to children.

Cook was originally sentenced to four and half years jail in November 2014 after he admitted having sex with an underage girl at an unoccupied property in Lincoln.

On that occasion Cook, then of Newark Road in the city, took the girl to the house where there was a mattress after picking her up from a park.

As part of the sentence Cook was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which prohibited him from having any unsupervised contact with girls under 16 for ten years.

Lincoln Crown Court heard Cook was released from prison but came to the attention of his risk management officer in February last year while he was living at an address on Britannia Terrace in Gainsborough.

Phil Howes, prosecuting, said his phone was analysed by police and found to contain over 4,000 indecent images of children.

They included 750 in the most serious category, including images of child rape, four prohibited images and one image of extreme pornography.

Cook was again questioned by police in February this year, while living at an address in Lincoln, after he was discovered to have communicated with three underage girls while he was aged between 51 and 53.

The court heard a second phone was seized from him and two of the girls were found to be aged twelve, with the other complainant aged 13.

Mr Howes said Cook asked one of the girls to send him an indecent photograph of herself.

In another comment Cook also asked one of the victims if he could feel under her clothes.

An exchange between Cook and one of the girls came to over 4,000 messages over 107 days.

Michael Cranmer-Brown, mitigating, told the court Cook did not meet up with any of his victims and had tried to seek help after being released from prison.

Cook pleaded guilty to twelve sexual offences including three offences of sexually communicating with a child, one charge of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and possessing indecent child images, prohibited images and an extreme pornographic image.

Passing sentence Judge John Pini QC said it was clear Cook met the criteria for being dangerous and posed a significant risk to children.

The judge told Cook his exchanges with the girls were “disgusting and deeply perverted.”

Cook was also made the subject of a further ten year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.