The Herald
November 6, 2010
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Pervert-joined-church-abuse/article-2845784-detail/article.html
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A CONVICTED paedophile joined a Plymouth church and befriended families to sexually abuse little girls, a court heard.
Kevin Davis, was jailed again yesterday at Plymouth Crown Court after admitting three breaches of a SOPO – Sexual Offences Prevention Order – designed to keep him away from children.
Davis, 47, denied a charge of sexually touching a child, which prosecutor David Gittins asked should lie on file.
The court heard that in May 2004, Davis was jailed for 18 months after admitting sexually assaulting a child. He was also subject to five years' extended supervision and a lifetime SOPO banning him from unsupervised contact with children, trying to form a physical relationship with children and from accessing internet pornography.
Mr Gittins said Davis joined Engage Southwest in St Levan's Road, formerly Carmel Church, where the senior minister was briefed about his past.
The church appointed eight senior members to supervise him, but these did not include the parents of the two girls he subsequently targeted.
Senior pastor Mike Symonds, speaking after the case, said he was 'very saddened' but stressed that the church took child protection very seriously.
Davis, who was married in the church in 2007, used his friendship with one woman to gain access to her six-year-old daughter.
After one incident the woman found the girl hiding behind the sofa. She asked if she could eat in her room and later told her mother that Davis had put his arm round her and touched her indecently.
He had also befriended the family of a seven-year-old girl, though Davis said he was alone with her only once and had not touched her indecently.
Mr Gittins said Davis had offences of indecent assaults on young girls dating back to 1991, and had also been convicted of taking indecent photos of a girl aged six.
Llewellyn Sellick, for Davis, said a system set up by the church had proved inadequate.
Pleading guilty meant no child would have to testify, he said.
His client, a qualified teacher, had worked in a variety of jobs and his wife, while not blind to his past, was very supportive. Judge Francis Gilbert QC told Davis, whose address was given as HMP Exeter: "You have a bad record of sexual interference with young girls."
He said it was clear his contact with the families was intended to lead to indecent touching.
Judge Gilbert jailed Davis for three years, less 172 days spent on remand, and ordered him to remain on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.
Outside the court, Detective Constable Ian Gilbert said: "Police work closely with the Probation Service and other agencies to manage offenders in the community; however, if they are determined to re-offend they will find a way.
"Davis offended again only towards the end of a five-year period of extended supervision.
"He is an entrenched paedophile with a history of offending against children and is probably incapable of changing his behaviour."
Senior pastor Mike Symonds of Engage Southwest, said: "I am very saddened by all of it.
"We take child protection very seriously. If we had the slightest suspicion we would have informed the police."
Mr Symonds stressed the incident with the families did not take place in the church and the visits by Davis to the two families were not on church business.
He said: "We took all reasonable steps. He was observed secretly during all of his activities at the church. He could only be supervised on the premises."
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