Repeat Willenhall sex offender used aliases to befriend mothers
Sex offender bought himself a ticket for 13-year-old girl’s school play
A repeat sex offender who used aliases to befriend mothers of schoolgirls breached the conditions of restrictions imposed on him by a court.
Warehouse worker James Broadhurst, aged 50, from Willenhall, failed to inform police when he stayed a woman’s home in Essex and officers also discovered he had the wrong software on some of his electronic devices which prevented him accessing illicit websites.
He had also struck up relationships with one mother and befriended another using the aliases Jay Hope, Jay Cerabus, and Jay Jim and failed to tell them that he had convictions and prohibitions.
Broadhurst, of School Street, was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order in 2010 at Wolverhampton Crown Court for making indecent images of children which included terms that he must have no contact with females under 18 unless a parent or carer is present, not to go to places frequented by under 18s and not to have pictures of children.
His latest offences came to light when officers visited his address on November 28, 2024 with a device sniffer dog.
Checks of his laptops and phones revealed he had attended children’s parties, visited Alton Towers, Monkey Forest, Chessington World, Windsor’s Legoland, and others in Romford where he stayed at an address where young children lived and bought them gifts. He also had uploaded photos of them wearing fancy dress costumes to his computer.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply to the sex offenders’ register, one count each of possessing indecent images, making in excess of 1,000 category C images of a child, and eight breaches of the 2010 order. The matters relate to the period 2020 to 2024.
Andrew Wallace, prosecuting , said Broadhurst even turned up at a 13-year-old girl’s school play in Somerset after buying himself a ticket after befriending her mother, who introduced him to the schoolgirl.
He told the court the defendant had five convictions for 24 offences including relating to indecent images of children.
In mitigation, the court heard that the defendant would lose his job and rented home if he was imprisoned and that he was suitable for a suspended sentence.
But Recorder Marc Brown disagreed. Jailing Broadhurst for a total of 22 months the judge said: “Given the persistent and varied nature of the breaches and given the serious nature of the offences the most appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.”
Broadhurst must serve at least half the term before being released on licence and will be subject to a post supervision for 12 months. He will be subject to a new sexual harm prevention order indefinitely. The recorder ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the devices at the hearing held on Friday.