June 2013

Dangerous child sex offender back behind bars after breaching order in Newport

A DANGEROUS child sex offender freed by the Court of Appeal was back behind bars yesterday – jailed for breaching a sexual offences order for a second time.

David Filor, 32, of no fixed abode, was described as “a very dangerous man” by Judge Stephen Hopkins QC when he appeared at Cardiff Crown Court after pleading guilty to the offence which was committed in January this year.

This was after Filor had talked to a teenage girl under 16 while volunteering in Newport and tried to invite her to visit a Swansea record shop with him.

Sentencing him to two years and four months imprisonment, Judge Hopkins QC told Filor: “I consider you to be a very dangerous man. I consider a real risk of you committing further specified offences causing significant risk of serious harm to the public in particular pre-pubescent girls.”

Describing it as a “very worrying case”, he added that he needed to pass a sentence which was punishment for Filor but also protected the public for as long as possible.

Filor had been released from custody on appeal in November last year after serving a sentence for his first breach of the order which was committed just the day after the order was imposed.

But the court heard in January this year Filor had volunteered at a premises in Newport until staff discovered his background when he was told he couldn’t work there.

Prosecutor Ieuan Bennett said this led to Filor volunteering at another place where he began to talk to a teenage girl.

This was in breach of the order.

The first breach of the order made by Filor was on April 4, 2012, the day after the order was imposed after he was released from custody by the Court of Appeal. We revealed that Filor had been caught loitering outside Newport Centre before entering into the reception and looking through a window at children in the swimming pool.

This led to him being sentenced in August 2012 to two and a half years imprisonment for breaching the order. The Court of Appeal reduced this sentence to eight months and he was out of custody within days.

Filor had first been jailed back on January 31, 2011, for 17 counts of possessing or making indecent images of children and two counts of possessing extreme pornography.

He received an indeterminate sentence with a notional minimum term of two years’ imprisonment.

But following appeal, the sentence was reduced to 18 months’ imprisonment and the sexual offences order was imposed on April 3 last year when Filor was released from prison.

Representing Filor, Andrew Jones said Filor had told him: “I’ve been an idiot” and said it was time to take some responsibility.

The sexual offences prevention order will continue and Filor was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £120.

November 2012

Dangerous paedophile caught staring at little girls in swimming pool one day after he was freed by appeal judges is released from prison AGAIN by same court

• David John Filor, 31, was jailed for 30 months in August for breeching his sexual offences prevention order

• He watched young small girls at Newport Leisure Centre a day after his release from jail in April

• Court of Appeal judges said he has a ‘long-standing and disturbing’ sexual interest in young girls

• But ruled sentence ‘out of proportion’ with the crime he committed

A ‘dangerous’ paedophile who was jailed after he was caught watching girls at a swimming pool a day after he was released by the Court of Appeal has today been freed once more – by the same court. 

David John Filor, 31, walked free in April after appeal judges said his potentially lifelong sentence for child porn crimes was unlawful. 

Within 24 hours he was spotted by police watching children play in the swimming pool at Newport leisure centre.

He admitted breaching a court order banning him from loitering near places likely to attract children and was jailed for 30 moths at Cardiff Crown Court in August. 

However, today he was released again after three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in London said the prison sentence was ‘excessive’. 

Mr Justice Males, sitting with Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Griffith Williams, cut the sentence to eight months, allowing immediate release.

The judge said that, although there was a risk his offending might escalate in future, a sentence ‘out of all proportion’ with what he actually did could not be justified.

Filor, of Argoed, Blackwood in Gwent, was initially jailed in January 2011 after admitting possessing child and extreme pornography.

He was found with a cache of 430 images of child sex abuse, 78 of which were at the most depraved level as categorised by police.

The images included some of surgical procedures being carried out on children’s bodies and photos of bestiality, the Court of Appeal heard in April.

Filor was found to be a ‘dangerous’ offender, the court in April heard, after he confessed to ‘fantasising’ about sexual attacks on children. 

He was given an open-ended imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence last year, designed to keep him behind bars until considered safe for release.

The Court of Appeal in April ruled the sentence was ‘unlawful’ because he must be punished for what he did and not what he might do in the future.

The following day he visited the leisure centre despite being banned by a sexual offences prevention order. 

Filor was followed and monitored by 17 police surveillance officers. On CCTV footage, he can be seen paying particular attention to a girl of about nine as she walks past and watching a children’s swimming pool through a window.

Giving the judgment today, Mr Justice Males said Filor had a ‘long-standing and disturbing’ sexual interest in young girls, but had not been in trouble for contact offences.

The judge who sentenced him had been influenced by a pre-sentence report suggesting that Filor was ‘extremely dangerous’, based on other allegations.

But he had not been prosecuted for those allegations and did not accept them to be true, meaning he should not have been sentenced on the basis of them, Mr Justice Males said.

He added: ‘[Filor] must be sentenced for the offence to which he has pleaded guilty and, while the risk of future offending is a factor, it cannot justify a sentence which is out of all proportion to what the appellant has done.

‘In this case, what the appellant has done is relatively modest. It was a single occasion. It didn’t involve contact with any child.

‘It occurred in a public place where the children were accompanied by their parents and were under supervision.

‘We have no doubt that the sentence passed in this case was excessive.’

The sentence was reduced to eight months, but due to 124 days already spent in custody, Filor was eligible for immediate release.

August 2012

Pervert breached court order a day after release from prison

AN “EXTREMELY dangerous” pervert released from jail by appeal court judges was found just a day later breaking the terms of a court order banning him from “loitering” within 100 yards of anywhere frequented by children.

Newport-born David John Filor, 31, of no fixed address, was released from prison on April 3 this year following an appeal against an indeterminate jail sentence he was given in January last year for charges of making and possessing 431 indecent images of children.

At the time, he was made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order which prohibited him from “loitering” within 100 yards of any place likely to be visited frequently by children under 16.

But Newport Crown Court heard that just over 24 hours later, on April 4, Filor was seen by two plain clothes police officers outside Newport Centre looking through a window at two small toddlers with their parents in the swimming pool.

The officers followed the defendant as he went into the foyer of the building and saw him again looking through a window at a children’s area of the pool for around 30 seconds. CCTV was checked and Filor was arrested the next day.

He later pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual offences prevention order and was jailed for 30 months on Friday.

The Argus reported that Filor, who has previously lived in Argoed, was jailed indeterminately with a minimum tariff of four years in January 2011.

This was after he pleaded guilty to 16 counts of making indecent photographs of a child, one count of possessing an indecent photograph of a child and two counts of possessing extreme pornography.

But in April this year, judges at London’s Court of Appeal ruled the sentence was “unlawful” because Filor had to be punished for what he did, not what he might do in the future.

His prison sentence was cut to 18 months, which he had already served and he was granted immediate release.

Nathan Fear, for Filor, told the court that the CCTV showed the defendant had not come into contact with anyone at the leisure centre.

Judge DavidWynn Morgan told Filor: “You are an extremely dangerous man.”

He made an amendment of the order so that Filor, among other prohibitions, is not allowed to enter within 100 yards of any premises which are visited frequently by children under 16.

April 2012

Blackwood paedophile freed after sentence thrown out

A PAEDOPHILE branded a danger to the public was freed from prison after top judges said they had no power to keep him locked up.

David John Filor, 31, of Argoed, Blackwood was jailed indefinitely for public protection at Cardiff Crown Court in January last year after admitting being in possession of indecent photos of children and extreme pornography, and confessing to “fantasising” about sex attacks on youngsters.

The sentence meant Filor could only be released if a parole board believed he no longer posed a threat to society.

But judges sitting at London’s Court of Appeal ruled the sentence was “unlawful” because Filor had to be punished for what he actually did – not what he might do in the future.

Lord Justice Hughes, sitting with Mr Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Globe, said the court had no choice but to grant his immediate release by cutting his prison term to 18 months – which he has already served.

Filor was found to have 430 images of child sex abuse on his phone and a memory stick, 78 of these were judged to be at the most severe level.

While accepting Filor was dangerous, his counsel, Andrew Jones, argued the sentence was unlawful because the offences were not serious enough to merit the four-year minimum jail term needed before the court had power to jail him indefinitely.

Lord Justice Hughes ruled: “Whilst we respect and understand the judge’s anxiety, that (the IPP sentence) was a device which was simply not available to him in law.

“Not every future risk can be catered for by the judge passing an unlawful sentence.”

Aspecial Home Office crime prevention unit will be alerted to the fact Filor has been freed.

He was also made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order that bans him from unsupervised contact with children, being near schools or going on the web.