Chesterfield paedophile caught with gamer chat app Discord ducks jail

Alex Green, 37, was caught with the apps on two separate devices during a raid of his Stuart Close home on October 15 last year.

Derby Crown Court heard officers also found Green in possessions of a Google Nest speaker and a Fitbit smartwatch.

The apps and the device put Green in breach of a five-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) imposed in 2018.

Under the terms Green was told he must inform police of any new devices capable of accessing the internet within three days.

While he was prohibited from using online messaging apps unless he provided police with his username and password - also within three days.

Prosecutor Abigail Hill said Green was jailed in 2012 for two counts of sexual activity with a child but later breached his SHPO.

As a result in 2018 he was jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years, and a further five-year order was imposed.

Judge Shaun Smith QC heard an inspection of the defendant’s Samsung tablet revealed he had engaged in conversations with an adult woman.

However Will Bennett, Green’s defence counsel, told the court the Hangouts app had been supplied with the tablet and was “something nobody noticed at the time”.

He added: “There was a chat with a woman in her late twenties if not her thirties - the SHPO was to prevent him contacting children.

“The risk of harm in my submission was low.”

Speaking about the Discord app Mr Bennett said Green had “technically” breached the order but he “remains very much in the spirit of the order”.

While the Fitbit could only receive texts and could not receive face calls or be used to view videos – and Mr Bennett added “it would be difficult to watch any sort of pornography” on the Google Nest.

He said that the speaker could only be used to send messages if connected to a phone the police were unaware of.

Green, of Stuart Close, Chesterfield, admitted three counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Handing him an 18-month community order and noting he had already served his suspended sentence, Judge Shaun Smith QC told Green: “You’re no stranger to these courts for breaching sexual harm prevention orders.

“You’ve breached one before and it must have been quite a serious one because the court imposed an 18-month suspended sentence.

“These are pretty much technical breaches of the order - nothing bad came out as a result. These were not attempts by you to contact children.”

The defendant was also fined £250, made to pay £340 court costs and handed 30 rehabilitation activity days.

Reminding him the SHPO remained in place until 2023, Judge Smith added: “Be careful what you get and what you put on it.”

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