A registered sex offender from Swale has been jailed for breaching court conditions imposed to restrict his behaviour.
Rhys Mateer was convicted of engaging in sexual communication with a child at Maidstone Crown Court in August 2020. He received a suspended sentence that came with strict sex offender notification requirements (SONR).
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These included advising officers within three days if he used an alias online or took possession of new bank cards. He was subsequently issued with a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO). This had a number of conditions that included allowing officers access to any device capable of storing digital images.
Mateer was subject to unannounced visits from officers to check his compliance. On 15 June 2024, two constables attended his home address to find he had tampered with monitoring software installed by the police on his mobile phone. He had also installed an application that prevented retention of his browsing history.
Further checks found he had been using an alias on his gaming console without notifying the police. He had also acquired a laptop and external hard drive, both of which he had failed to declare to the visiting officers.
Mateer, formerly from Minster-on-Sea, was arrested and further searches located a bank card he had not declared and a tablet plus a mobile phone in his car.
He was charged and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to five counts of breaching his SHPO and two counts of breaching his SONR.
On Thursday 3 October, the 27-year-old was sentenced to a total of two years and seven months’ imprisonment. This included four months for breaching a suspended sentence. On his release from prison, he will be subject to a further SHPO indefinitely.
Police Constable James Harris said:
‘The conditions that come with these court orders are an opportunity for sex offenders to show they are attempting to reform their ways and can be trusted to not reoffend whilst living in the community.
‘Our unannounced visit to this particular individual identified several breaches and he was immediately arrested. He is now serving a prison sentence and will be subject to further checks on his conduct when he is eventually released.’