No prison sentence for breaching child pornography order

Paedophile hairdresser downloaded images on a tablet

A PAEDOPHILE hair stylist, jailed for hoarding child pornography, has narrowly avoided going back to prison for defying court orders.

Nevertheless, a judge expressed serious concern about the recent behaviour of Anthony John Farr, who runs the mobile, visiting hairdressing business Hair by Tony, and who was jailed in May 2017 after being caught with more than 20,000 indecent images of children.

Farr had both still and moving images in categories C, B and A – the most serious.

The 53-year-old was sentenced to 18 months in prison, ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and made subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) designed to stop him re-offending.

But on Thursday, July 18, he was sentenced by a judge for breaching the terms of that order.

Jonathan Sank, prosecuting, said Farr, who lives at Southend Road, Bradfield Southend, and whose website describes him as “an award-winning hair designer of the highest standard”, had three previous convictions.

He added: “The one which gave rise to this offence was a conviction for six counts of making indecent images of children.”

The court heard that among the material police found when they raided his home were 202 videos and 57 still images in the Class A category – the most serious on the official scale.

Farr initially denied the offences, but changed his pleas to guilty just two weeks before his trial was due.

He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and released in February last year, having been made subject to a 10-year SHPO.

But within months, said Mr Sank, he had breached its terms by obtaining an Amazon Fire Kindle tablet with internet access.

The court heard he had downloaded family photographs on to it and given it to his child as a present.

Mr Sank said: “There was initially some concern about the images; there were images that might have given the impression they were provocative, but there was nothing illegal.”

Mr Sank asked the judge to make the 10-year SHPO indefinite, adding: “This is a defendant who has demonstrated poor compliance with the order. He has shown limited engagement with his PPO [public protection officer].”

Farr admitted having, without reasonable excuse, an Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, that he was prohibited from owning by the SHPO, on or around December 23 last year.

Michael Phillips, defending, stressed that his client had simply wanted to give the Kindle tablet to his child, to whom he has regular access, as a Christmas gift.

But Judge Maria Lamb interjected: “That’s a concern – that he could still have access to that Kindle. His PPO says he is selective about the information he provides them. There could be an element of manipulation.”

And she said, while he was out of prison but still on licence, Farr had failed to disclose a relationship that involved access to a child.

Judge Lamb added: “The police didn’t find out until the licence period had expired, so nothing could be done.”

Mr Phillips said Farr accepted he had had “an encounter” with the woman, but disputed that he had been in a relationship with her.

He added: “He is trying to do the right thing. He slipped up.”

Mr Phillips pointed out that Farr had committed no new sexual offences since his release from prison.

Sentencing Farr, Judge Lamb told him: “I’m quite satisfied this was a deliberate breach. You took the view you would be selective with the information you provided to the police.”

She expressed concern at the fact that he had breached the SHPO so soon after it was made and added: “You knew full well you should be reporting your possession of this device to police.”

Judge Lamb sentenced Farr to three months imprisonment, suspended for 20 months.

She declined to extend the length of the SHPO, but ordered Farr to complete a Horizon course for sex offenders and to complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity.