Carlisle sex offender struggling with 'impulse control' jailed again

The two offences committed by 51-year-old Frederick O’Brien, who pleaded guilty to both charges, came to light after police visited him at the city centre accommodation where he was living on April 2, the city’s crown court heard.

He admitted installing, deleting, and then reinstalling the Grindr dating app on his phone. He deleted three apps from his phone – activity that is forbidden under the terms of his sexual harm prevention order.

Two of them constituted breaches of his court order. 

O’Brien was given the order – designed to control and limit his internet use – following earlier online offending which featured him downloading indecent child images.

In 2021, he attempted to communicate sexually with a female child and attempted to cause a child to engage in sexual activity, the court heard. Last year, he was dealt with for failing comply with being on the Sex Offender Register.

Mark Shepherd, defending, told the court: “This is a man who, until he started offending quite recently, relatively late in his life, was leading to all intents and purposes a happy, productive, and normal life.

READ MORE: 'You are a determined paedophile' - judge tells Carlisle sex offender

“He lost his mother, and things started to spiral down very quickly. He has said he does not know why he does it and that he needs help.”

It was clear, said the lawyer, that O’Brien needed considerable professional input to dealt with his impulse control. O’Brien had already started to use antidepressant medication after witnessing a “vicious assault” in prison.

He was also affected by witnessing the “significant self-harm” of a cellmate in the past two weeks. “He’s remorseful,” said Mr Shepherd, adding that the defendant wanted to return to as normal a life as possible.

Judge Michael Fanning said O’Brien’s latest offending was “clearly deliberate”. He imposed a ten-month jail term.

The phone used by O’Brien will be forfeited.