Suspended sentence for Peterborough sex offender who slept in same house as children

Aaron Batchelor (23) was arrested on June 11 by officers from the north-based Public Protection Unit (PPU) as part of a routine check on registered sex offenders who are managed by the unit.

He was placed on the Sex Offenders Register in 2015 after being convicted of making and possessing indecent images of children.

DC Andy Harding, from the northern PPU, said: “All registered sex offenders in our county are allocated to a member of our PPU teams to be monitored. Part of this includes carrying out unannounced visits at their home address, accessing their electronic devices and speaking with them about their daily activity.”

On one of the visits to Batchelor’s home he told officers he had contact with two young children but that it was infrequent and their parent knew of his previous conviction.

However, when officers contacted the parent they were not aware and also revealed the children had stayed at Batchelor’s home overnight on three occasions since his conviction.

Batchelor, of Wootton Avenue, Fletton, Peterborough, slept in the same house as the children which was a direct breach of his requirements.

The first occasion was in September 2015, with further instances in April and August last year.

DC Harding added: “This was a clear breach of his notification requirements which are in place to protect children and also prevent him from re-offending.”

Batchelor pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders register. He was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, August 1) to 36 weeks in prison, suspended for two years and ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work.

Anyone who is concerned someone may have been convicted of a sex offence, and could be posing a risk to someone, can apply for disclosure information through Clare’s Law and Sarah’s Law.