A MAN who was a teenager when he committed two sexual offences against a child and threatened to kill them has been given a community service order by the Royal Court.
Thomas Roy Allan Jones (20) admitted to sexual touching of an older child, sexual intercourse with an older child, two common assaults, sending menacing messages, and resisting arrest.
Jones, who was in his late teens when he committed the offences, pleaded guilty to the six charges. The victim was a teenager, the court heard.
Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood said the sexual offences had been discovered when police officers seized and searched his mobile phone and found pictures and videos of the offending.
In separate incidents, police were called to fights.
On one occasion, he “shoved” the victim to the ground and caused a lump to their head, the advocate said. In the second assault, the victim suffered a cut to the lip.
When the police were called a third time, the defendant had been sending threatening voice notes to the victim.
He told them: “I will kill you… I will murder you.”
In interview, Jones couldn’t remember sending the messages, but was “disgusted” by them, the advocate said.
Jones resisted when officers went to arrest him.
Crown Advocate Hollywood said: “Several police officers were required to restrain the defendant… Leg restraints had to be used.”
The crown asked for 264 hours’ community service and £1,500 for costs, adding that Jones had “achieved a greater sense of stability in his life” in recent months.
Advocate Julia-Anne Dix, defending, said it would be unfair to ask him to pay back this amount, as he was “not a man of exceptional financial means”.
She added that there had been long delays, and that all the offences could have been dealt with more than a year ago, when he was jailed for a different offence.
In a letter, she said, “he clearly details in his own words the effect of being in custody and how he focused while being in custody on how he could change himself.
“That’s something he has demonstrated since getting out of prison. He is now in stable employment… He has matured. He has turned his back on drinking and late nights and wants to focus on his future.”
He was sentenced to 180 hours of community service and a nine-month probation order, and he will have to pay £500 for costs.
Delivering the sentence, Commissioner Alan Binnington said there was “no doubt” he would go to prison if he didn’t comply with his sentence.
“It is now really up to you to demonstrate to the court that you have turned a corner. We have read very carefully your letter of remorse and and we very much hope that we do not see you again in the future,” he said.
Commissioner Binnington was presiding. Jurats Andrew Cornish and Donald Gardener were sitting.
