July 2022

Paedophile clown who had strict restrictions on his internet usage is caught with secret phone

A former children’s entertainer who was unmasked as a paedophile and had strict restrictions on his internet usage was caught with a secret phone.

Kingsley Perera is required to register any smart phone he owns with the authorities after being jailed for downloading thousands of images of child sexual abuse.

But despite being given a strong warning by a Crown Court late last year, the 59-year-old was found by police hiding in a car with an undisclosed Huawei phone – a device he tried to conceal in a nearby shed when the officers turned their backs.

The incident happened just weeks after he had been given a suspended prison sentence for moving house without telling the police.

Hannah George, prosecuting, said on July 5 this year police on patrol in the Townhill area of Swansea were asked to make checks on a Ford Galaxy people carrier.

When the officers located the vehicle they saw a man slumped down inside the car trying to avoid being spotted. The occupant of the Ford – later identified as Perera – got out and crawled to a nearby shed where the PCs saw him sliding a mobile phone under the door.

The court heard the officers tried to retrieve the phone but were unable, and they then asked the crawling man about the Ford – Perera told them the car belonged to a man on the street, and he pointed-out the owner’s supposed house.

When the officers turned their attention to the property the defendant tried to reach under the shed door and recover his phone but was spotted and stopped.

Perera was arrested and his phone retrieved, and he initially denied the mobile was his. However, when it was examined the main contact on the device was the defendant’s sister.

A further examination of the device found a selfie taken by the defendant in February this year which indicated he had had the secret phone for a number of months.

Perera has been required to register any internet-enable phone with the police since being jailed for 10 months in December 2020 after being caught almost 4,000 images of children being sexual abused and raped on his mobile phones, including more than 600 so-called Category A photos which show the most extreme kind of abuse. 

He denied he was responsible for downloading the images and at trial sought to blame others – including his own sister – who he said had acted out of spite, or for their own sexual purposes.

As part of his sentence he was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and was placed on the sex offenders register for the same length of time – under the notification requirements he must tell police about any new address within three days.

However, in April this year he was handed a 24-week suspended prison sentence after it was discovered he moved to a house on Pen-y-Cae Road in Port Talbot without notifying the authorities.

During the sentencing hearing for that matter the court heard one of the bedrooms in the defendant’s new address appeared to be a child’s bedroom, complete with “racing car” bed.

Miss George said when Perera was interviewed about the undisclosed phone he answered “no comment” to all questions, and handed in a prepared statement in which he said he had only used the phone for contacting family and friends and had been “foolish” not to disclose it.

Kingsley Perera, of Baywood Avenue, West Cross, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) by not declaring an internet-enable device, and to breaching a suspended sentence when he appeared in the dock for sentencing, He has seven previous convictions for 21 offences.

Judge Geraint Walters told Perera that sexual harm prevention orders were there to protect the defendant as well as the public, and that when activities were “carried on in the shadows” they rightly aroused suspicion. He said it was troubling that Perera was back before the courts again, and he warned him that sentences would only keep on increasingly in length were he to keep on offending.

With a one third discount for his guilty plea Perera was sentenced to 12 months in prison for breaching the SHPO, and the judge activated three months of the previously imposed suspended sentence to run consecutively making an overall sentence of 15 months in prison.

The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

April 2022

Paedophile clown found in house with child’s ‘racing car bed’

A former children’s entertainer and clown who was caught with thousands of indecent images on his phone failed to tell police he had moved to a new town, a court has heard.

When officers found Kingsley Perera at his new address – following information received from the Department for Work and Pensions – they found what appeared to be a child’s bedroom in the property, complete with “racing car” bed.

Swansea Crown Court heard the 59-year-old has “memory issues”, and the fact he is required to tell police if he moves “fell off the radar”.

Perera was jailed for 10 months in December 2020 after being caught almost 4,000 images of children being sexual abused and raped on his mobile phones, including more than 600 so-called Category A photos which show the most extreme kind of abuse.

He denied he was responsible for downloading the images and at trial sought to blame others – including his own sister – who he said had acted out of spite, or for their own sexual purposes.

As part of his sentence he was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and was placed on the sex offenders register for the same length of time – under the notification requirements he must tell police about any new address within three days.

Stephen Rees, prosecuting, told the court that on March 17 this year police officers went to a house on Pen-y-Cae Road in Port Talbot following information received from the Department for Work and Pensions.

In the driveway of the property was a vehicle which was insured in the defendant’s name.

Officers spent around 10 minutes knocking on the front door until the defendant looked out from the bathroom window.

The officers were let into the house, and the court heard they were concerned that one of the bedrooms appeared to be a child’s room complete with a “racing car” bed.

Kingsley Perera, now of Pier Street in Swansea Maritime Quarter, had previously pleaded guilty to breaching sexual registration notification requirements when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

Vince Williams, for Perera, said the defendant had been evicted from his previous property on Hanover Street in Swansea, and had then been put in touch with a landlord who provided accommodation to former inmates.

Judge Wayne Beard said he had read a pre-sentence on the defendant, and it was of concern that the he still seemed to maintain his position that he was not guilty of the possession of images charges. However he said it was significant that the author of the report concluded Perera posed a greater risk if he were sent back to custody than if he were to undergo a rehabilitation course in the community.

The judge said the offence of failing to abide by notification requirements was a serious one but he said “it seems the public would be better protected in these circumstances if I were to impose a suspended sentence”.

With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Perera was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation requirement with a Maps for Change sex offenders course.