Man jailed after getting child he was banned from seeing drunk

Ronald Howard was served with a child abduction warning notice by police telling him not to see the girl in question.

But he was found with her one evening when she was in a ‘heavily intoxicated’ state that required her to visit A&E.

The 25-year-old appeared for sentence at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting taking away a child without lawful authority and breach of a suspended sentence.

Louise McCloskey, prosecuting, explained how on January 7, police officers attended the defendant’s flat on Silverdale Road in Newton-le-Willows and issued him with a child abduction warning notice.

This looks to sever the relationship between an adult who is inappropriately associating themselves with a child against the wishes of the child’s parents or carers.

At the time of serving the notice, police found the girl inside Howard’s flat and returned her to her place of residence, namely a care home in the Warrington area.

On March 2, at around 8.30pm, the girl’s carer and a colleague had to leave the home to look for her after she went missing.

They headed to an area popular with young people and found no sign of her, but at 8.45pm, they found the girl on a dirt track with the defendant.

He was holding her up as they walked as she was unsteady on her feet. The carer led the girl, who was disorientated and asked who the carer was, despite knowing her, to her vehicle and helped her inside.

The carer could smell alcohol on the girl’s breath, who was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open and whose head was ‘floppy’.

She asked the man who he was, to which he gave a false name and address, as well as saying he was from St Helens but was currently homeless. He did not reply when asked how he knew her.

The teenager said she needed to be sick and the carers took her to Warrington Hospital, where she remained overnight to be monitored.

As she began to sober up the next day, she confirmed the identity of the defendant and that he had been served with a child abduction warning notice.

Ronald Howard was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court

She told the carer they had been to a Co-op together for alcohol and that they had kissed, but she could not remember anything else.

The defendant was interviewed by police on March 4 and admitted he had been with her on the day, bought alcohol for her and was present while she consumed it.

Ms McCloskey revealed that Howard has one previous conviction for one offence, for which he was handed the suspended sentence which he breached.

This was a four-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months handed down at Wirral Magistrates’ Court for affray, possession of a blade in public and possession of an offensive weapon.

He was also given 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 80 hours of unpaid work, which he breached before this offence and was fined in December, and then breached again by failing to attend unpaid work appointments in January, February and March of this year.

Desmond Lennon, defending, said: “The defendant is under no illusion that he is facing a custodial sentence, and he has come to court prepared.”

He spoke of how his client pleaded guilty at first opportunity and should therefore be afforded full credit, and how he had not served a custodial sentence previously.

Mr Lennon asked the court to keep the custodial sentence ‘as short as possible’, adding: “I hope he can stay away from teenage girls and sort his life out on his release.”

Before sentencing, judge David Potter said: “The child abduction warning notice set out in clear terms not to contact her whatsoever, and if she came to you, you were obliged to notify social services.

“The court gave you an opportunity with a suspended sentence, and it will have been explained to you that if you were to commit any other offences, the suspended sentence could be activated in full.

“An offence of taking a child without lawful authority is so serious that only a custodial sentence is appropriate, and committing a further offence during a period of a suspension means the sentence must be activated.”

Howard was sentenced to six months in prison and handed a restraining order not to contact the girl or enter the Warrington street on which she resides for seven years.

After approving the restraining order, Judge Potter added: “Stay well away from this child.”