Is Worthing paedophile Stephen Agate living near you? He is out in the community and looking to access young children. After being discovered to be in touch with a single mother with small girls, a guy imprisoned for sexual offences against a young girl has been detained once more.
Stephen Agate, 37, unemployed, of Wordsworth Road, Worthing, was sentenced to three years in prison at Lewes Crown Court on Tuesday, April 24 2018, having first pleaded guilty to breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), severely restricting any unsupervised or agreed access to young children, and to breaching a lifetime requirement to notify his address to police as a Registered Sex Offender.
Stephen Agate was seen by police socialising in Worthing with a single mother on a supervision licence who had small girls within four months of her release from prison.
After confessing to causing an eight-year-old girl known to him to engage in sexual behaviour, he had already been sentenced to four years in jail in July 2015.
After staying in Burgess Hill, he paid visits to the girl’s house in the town, where he knew the family and repeatedly committed sexual acts against her under the pretences of being alone with her.
Along with being designated a Registered Sex Offender for life, he was granted the SHPO to last indefinitely when sentenced in July 2015.
Stephen Agate was released from prison on license in July last year, and at a Probation-approved address in Worthing, PC Matt Andrews of the West Sussex VISOR (Violent and Sexual Offender) Unit said.
“November saw him meet the mother locally and develop a friendship that led to his beginning to live at her address.
“But his inexplicable absence from his approved address was seen and quickly followed up; our investigations revealed where he stayed within a few days.
“Stephen Agate was charged with these extra charges and promptly arrested, then sent back to jail.
“The mother was unaware of his criminal past, which included preying on a small daughter he had met in somewhat similar circumstances.
“This research, in which we worked with the National Probation Service, shows how action is taken to supervise sexual offenders in the community and to safeguard the public, especially vulnerable adults and children.”
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