A CONVICTED sex offender from Chard has been fined just £10 after breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHOPO).

Stephen Joe McQueen was made subject to the order which was imposed at Taunton Crown Court earlier this year after he was convicted of a sexual offence.

However, McQueen breached the order after admitting that he had stayed overnight at an address where children under the age of 16 were present.

When he appeared in the dock before Somerset Magistrates, sitting at Yeovil, they were told that the defendant’s actions had only come to light after he made a confession to a Probation Officer during a scheduled appointment.

The court was told that there were two SHOPO orders running at the same time, and McQueen had already appeared before a judge at the crown court and was dealt with for breaching one of the orders.

McQueen, 19, of Mintons Orchard, pleaded guilty that on May 14 at Ilminster he did something, namely slept and resided at an address where children under the age of 16 were present, that he was prohibited from doing so by a sexual harm prevention order made on January 21 at Taunton Crown Court.

Emma Lenanton, prosecuting, said that one of the conditions of the order was that McQueen was not to live at an address where children under the age of 16 were present.

She said: “It was through his own admissions during a probation appointment where he indicated that he was no longer living at his previous address and was living somewhere else where there were two small children under 16.”

The court was told that this led to the prosecution being brought, and due to the fact that there were two orders running at the same time, he had already appeared at Taunton Crown Court for breach of the other order by committing the same offence.

In mitigation, solicitor Bill Gayer said that he had hoped the defendant would have been dealt with for breaching both orders at the same time, and he had effectively appeared in court twice for the same matter.

Mr Gayer said: “He is a vulnerable young man and has a lot of support from his mother and aunt and he actually told the probation authority what he had done.”

The magistrates fined McQueen £10 and also ordered him to pay a £30 victim surcharge.