A registered sex offender Paedophile from Swale, Rhys Mateer, has been incarcerated for violating court-imposed behavioural restrictions.
Rhys Mateer was found guilty of engaging in sexual communication with a minor at Maidstone Crown Court in August 2020. He was issued a suspended sentence accompanied by stringent sex offender notification requirements (SONR).
These included notifying officers within three days if he utilised an alias online or acquired new bank cards.
Rhys Mateer was later granted a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO). This featured several stipulations, one of which permitted officers access to any device capable of storing digital photos.
Checks by police
Rhys Mateer was subject to unannounced visits from officers to check his compliance. On 15 June 2024, two constables attended his home address to find he had tampered with monitoring software installed by the police on his mobile phone. He had also installed an application that prevented retention of his browsing history.
Further checks found he had been using an alias on his gaming console without notifying the police. He had also acquired a laptop and external hard drive, both of which he had failed to declare to the visiting officers.
Rhys Mateer, formerly from Minster-on-Sea, was arrested and further searches located a bank card he had not declared and a tablet plus a mobile phone in his car.
Guilty
He was charged and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to five counts of breaching his SHPO and two counts of breaching his SONR.
On Thursday 3 October, the 27 year old was sentenced to a total of two years and seven months’ imprisonment. This included four months for breaching a suspended sentence. He will be subject to a further SHPO indefinitely after his release from prison.
Police Constable James Harris said: ‘The conditions that come with these court orders are an opportunity for sex offenders to show they are attempting to reform their ways and can be trusted to not reoffend whilst living in the community.
‘Our unannounced visit to this particular individual identified several breaches and he was immediately arrested. He is now serving a prison sentence and will be subject to further checks on his conduct when he is eventually released.’
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