Steven Smith, the Sittingbourne paedophile, violated a court order prohibiting him from seeing child sexual imagery. Steven Smith neglected to report his social media usernames to the authorities, as mandated.
Kent Police said that Steven Smith was incarcerated for viewing obscene photographs of minors and violating court-imposed rules designed to regulate his behaviour. In January 2022, he was convicted at Maidstone Crown Court of engaging in sexual communication with a child, enticing a girl under 13 to participate in sexual conduct, and producing indecent photos of children.
Steven Smith was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison. Following his release, he was mandated to adhere to stringent sex offender notification requirements (SONR) in conjunction with a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
These included conditions that allowed officers to have access to any device capable of storing digital images and to install monitoring software on his mobile phone and computer. Steven Smith was arrested again on May 13, 2024, after investigators identified he had accessed seven illegal images of children on his phone.
A search was completed at his home address and several bank cards were located that he had failed to confirm to the police that he possessed. This, along with his failure to register his use of several social media usernames with officers, were breaches of his court orders.
Steven Smith, of Peregrine Drive, Sittingbourne, was charged and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to making indecent images of a child and six breaches of his SONR. On Tuesday, November 12, the 44-year-old was sentenced to a year in prison. On his release, he will be subject to a further SHPO indefinitely.
Police investigator Thomas Briant said: “Steven Smith was given the opportunity by the court to show he could reform and be trusted not to reoffend whilst living in the community. Once we identified he was blatantly accessing indecent images of children on a phone we were actively monitoring, he was immediately arrested.
“This led to identification Steven Smith had breached his court orders multiple times. He is now serving another prison sentence and will be subject to ongoing checks when he is released.”
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