A judge at York Crown Court has criticised mental health services for leaving an adult sex offender with the mental age of ten to ‘fend for himself’.
Judge Sean Morris originally delayed the sentencing of Joseph Rhys Aldred, to give time for accommodation to be found for the 22 year old with learning difficulties, so he could live under close supervision.
But no place had been found, despite the efforts of the probation service.
Instead Aldred had been remanded in prison for the last six months.
Judge Morris said: “He has got the mental age of ten. Prison is not where he should be.
“It would appear that those who are responsible for helping people with mental issues, in this case, are not engaging with one another and in effect, they have left (Aldred) to fend for himself.
“There is only so much the court can do. This is not a situation that should ever occur.”
Joseph Aldred, formely of Mayfield Drive in York and now of no fixed address, admitted breaching the Sexual Harm Prevention Order which was handed to him alongside a suspended two year prison sentence in June 2020.
The ten-year order was imposed after Aldred pleaded guilty to meeting a child after sexual grooming and sexual communications had taken place.
He had breached the order by contacting a child again, accessing the internet through private browsing on a mobile phone and resetting another device to factory settings.
Aldred was released from prison and handed a three-year community order with a 90 sex offender treatment programme and 30 days of rehabilitation.