September 2014: Now living in Paignton

August 2014

Plymouth paedophile caught spying on children in public toilets

A PLYMOUTH paedophile was caught spying on a man and his three-year-old child at a family fun day.

The father was left shocked and furious after catching Michael Giles-Holmes spying on them in a public toilet at a family fun day.

The man alerted the police who found registered sex offender Giles-Holmes lurking in the public conveniences at the seaside Picnic in the Park event in Devon.

The 73-year-old sex offender had been spying on families using the toilets at Preston Green in Paignton through a hole in the wall while committing a sex act in a neighbouring cubicle.

Giles-Holmes, originally from Plymouth but now living in Paignton, has a history of sexual offences including downloading child pornography.

He is subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which he broke by going onto social media websites and chatrooms which are popular with children.

Giles-Holmes, previously of Haddington Road, Plymouth, now of Esplanade Road, Paignton, admitted voyeurism and two offences of breaching a SOPO and was sent on a sex offenders treatment programme as part of a two year community order.

He was also made subject of a new SOPO and ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life by Judge Graham Cottle at Exeter Crown Court.

The Judge said the public were better protected by Giles-Holmes being treated than a short jail sentence, which he would have served most of already because he has been in custody for six weeks.

He said:”The better way of protecting the public is to make a community order with a condition to undertake the treatment programme. It is the most constructive way to try to protect children from you.

“A number of agencies will be looking at your behaviour and movements very carefully. There are multi agency public protection arrangement, a police public protection officer and an offender manager.”

Miss Janice Eagles, prosecuting, said a father attending the Picnic in the Park event with his two children took his three-year-old daughter to use a cubicle in the gents part of the public toilets.

As he bent down to put her on the seat he noticed someone looking at him through the hole in the plaster wall.

Miss Eagles said:”He shouted ‘what are you doing’ and slammed his hand against the wall. He was extremely angry. He got his child dressed and banged on the door of the cubicle and demanded the man come out.

“He replied he was using the toilet but the father looked over the top of the cubicle and saw him masturbating. The father was shocked and extremely upset at what he saw as a violation of his daughter’s privacy.”

He resisted the temptation to try to get in and attack the defendant because his daughter was still with him but called the police who arrested Giles-Holmes.

The checked his phone and found he had used it to access chat sites on Whatsapp and Viber, in direct contravention of the terms of his SOPO.

Miss Eagles said there was no evidence Giles-Holmes had made the hole in the toilet wall but it was more likely he was using one which he found there.

Mr Paul Dentith, defending, said:”He has served the equivalent of a three month sentence. He knows he needs help and is now keen to work to do anything that will reduce his level of risk.”

February 2012

Paedophile, 70 breached order

A CONVICTED paedophile has been jailed for breaching an order previously imposed for having indecent images of children.

Michael Giles-Holmes, aged 70, of Haddington Road, Stoke, was sentenced for four counts of breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order by accessing adult pornography on the internet.

He pleaded guilty to the offences in September last year. The court heard how he had been jailed in August 2008 for 12 weeks in prison, suspended for two years under supervision, and ordered to undergo the Internet Sex Offenders’ Programme after accessing child pornography.

But in October 2010 police officers arrested Giles-Holmes for going on holiday to Turkey without notifying the authorities. Police searched his home and seized a computer on which they found evidence he’d been on porn websites from December 2009 and October 2010 – right up until the day before he was arrested, with words in the titles such as teen and young porn, although it was confirmed these sites were adult pornography.

Judge Miranda Robertshaw said: “You knew full well you had breached this order. You still lack motivation to resist and these orders were put in place to protect members of the public.” She jailed him for nine months. Eights months for breaching his order and one month of his previous suspended sentence was reactivated.