Convicted sex offender admits boy slept in room

Daniel Seviour, 27, of Burgh Road, who is on the Sex Offenders’ Register, admitted that he failed to notify the police that a person under 18 had stayed at his residence which he is required to do under the terms of his registration.

Jim Clare, prosecuting at Boston Magistrates’ Court, said Seviour had been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years and sent to prison in 2013 at Lincoln Crown Court for eight offences of inciting a child to have sex and three offences of possessing indecent photographs.

He said Seviour was reminded of the requirements of the Register as recently as February, including notifying the police if he stayed or resided for more than 12 hours with anyone under the age of 18.

He said Seviour texted the boy on August 12 to ask him if he wanted to stay the night and the boy stayed at Seviour’s home for the nights of August 12 and 13, sleeping in the same bedroom on a spare mattress.

Seviour told the police he had known the boy for some time and that the boy had stayed at his own request and had slept on a spare mattress while he slept in the bed with his girlfriend.

Mr Clare said Seviour had been formally cautioned by the police in 2015 for a failure under the Sex Offenders’ Register.

Mitigating, Anita Toal said she recognised it was not a technical breach and what had happened was something the whole system was designed to avoid.

She said that Seviour and the boy shared an interest in bikes and that his girlfriend was in the same bedroom.

“Clearly he has been very foolish indeed,” she told the magistrates. “But this is the first time he has been in court for a failure to notify the police.”

As no probation officer was available to make a report to the court, the magistrates on Wednesday adjourned the case for sentence so that a full report could be obtained.