Luke Gillard

Luke Gillard, a 21-year-old from Wirral View in Hawarden, Flintshire, appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court where he admitted to four sex offences that violated strict court orders intended to protect children. Previously convicted in August 2024 of three counts of sexual activity with a child, Gillard had been subjected to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order. This order prohibited him from unsupervised contact with anyone under 16, limited his internet usage, and mandated registration of his address with authorities.

On 28 October 2025, Gillard deliberately removed his GPS monitoring tag in an effort to evade detection, discarding it in a public bin. Prosecutor Patrick Gartland described the act as 'a determined attempt to avoid detection.' When police from North Wales Police conducted an unannounced visit to his home that month, Gillard surrendered a basic Nokia phone, insisting it was not for internet access. However, subsequent searches uncovered a hidden Samsung smartphone under his bed, equipped with apps including Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.

Analysis of the device revealed chat logs where Gillard messaged youngsters who disclosed their ages as 13, 14, and 15, while he misrepresented his own age. Although most communications were not explicitly sexual, one exchange with a 15-year-old girl between 12 and 27 October 2025 contained sexualised content. Defence barrister Dafydd Roberts highlighted Gillard's diagnoses of ADHD and potential autism, emphasising that only one chat was sexual in nature and urging engagement with probation services to comply with protective orders.

Sentencing Gillard, His Honour Judge Timothy Petts remarked: 'This sort of behaviour is clearly completely unacceptable whatever diagnosis you have… You are a young man with a clear sexual obsession with teenaged girls.' Gillard was imprisoned for two years for breaching the sexual harm prevention order through contact with children, with concurrent sentences of 16 months for unlawfully using social media, eight months for failing notification requirements, and six months for sexual communication with a child. The case was reported by Wales Updates on 16 January 2026, based on court proceedings at Caernarfon Crown Court.