Hartlepool pervert David Walls jailed for illegal social media activity

Police have now welcomed the sentence handed out to David Walls and state that “anyone who may be a risk to the public will be put in front of the court to be dealt with accordingly”.

Walls, 43, was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order in 2017 to protect the public after he admitted trying to meet up with a teenage girl he groomed over the internet.

The restrictions included requiring him to make devices capable of accessing the internet available to police and probation officers on request and not to delete his history.

Jailed twice for previously flouting the order – including after throwing a phone away so it could not be checked - he has been locked up again after he was convicted at Teesside Crown Court for his latest offence.

Cleveland Police say a warrant was carried out at his home in July of this year after officers from the force’s public protection unit suspected him of breaching his order by illegally using social media.

Walls, formerly of Rugby Street, Hartlepool, has been locked up for 28 months.

Detective Constable Carl Middleton, from Hartlepool Police’s public protection unit, said after the sentencing hearing: “I am happy with the custodial sentence handed to David Walls.

"Police take breaches of crown court orders very seriously and anyone who may be a risk to the public will be put in front of the court to be dealt with accordingly.”