Penrith man, 51, could be jailed for child sex offences

Appearing at Carlisle Crown Court, 51-year-old Stephen Prentice, of Ridley Court, Penrith, who was said to be a man of previous good character, entered guilty pleas to the following two offences:

* Attempting to cause a child to look at an image of sexual activity. He did this between April 5, 2021 and May 9, 2021. The age of the child involved, the court heard, was 13.

* And, "for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratificiation", attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, asking her to provide "nude images" of herself. This also happened during same time span as the first offence.

Defence barrister Kim Whittlestone said that Prentice had been made aware that he will now lose his job as a result of the conviction, though what the job is was not stated in open court.

She told the judge that further assessment of the defendant was needed and asked the judge to approve the preparation of pre-sentence background reports on the defendant by the Probation Service.

Judge David Swinnerton agreed to that request and set the date of sentence as July 1.

He told the defendant, who spoke only to confirm his details and to enter his pleas, that he must within the next few days visit his local police station and provide his details as required of those who are on the Register.

How long his name will remain on the Sex Offender Register will be determined by the length and nature of his sentence.

The judge said: “I am making no promises as to the sentence. All options are open, including custody.” He granted the defendant bail on condition that he has no unsupervised contact with any child unless this is inadvertent.