Grant Huddart, a 42-year-old high-risk sex offender previously known as Grant Percival, has a extensive history of sexual offences, particularly targeting vulnerable lone females, including children. His latest incident occurred in Carlisle, where he approached a young female bar worker on the evening of 23 February, staring at her while she collected glasses. Huddart initiated contact by claiming he was suicidal, asking if she would care if he killed himself, which prompted her concern and an offer to have tea with him.
The conversation escalated as Huddart inquired if she hated him or found him good-looking, complimented her beauty, and stated, 'I’d really like to say what I’d like to do to you.' Despite her rebuff, he requested a cuddle before she alerted the police and he walked away. This behaviour closely resembled his June 2024 sexual assault of a 20-year-old woman in Kendal, where he similarly feigned suicidal ideation and grief over a fabricated daughter's death to gain sympathy before assaulting her.
Huddart's criminal record spans over two decades, including 25 prior offences such as breaching sexual harm prevention orders. Key convictions include: indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl walking home from school in 2003; sexually assaulting another 14-year-old in an alleyway in 2004; offering money to a 14-year-old for sex in 2011; fixating on and recording a female bus driver for five hours in 2011; sending malicious messages in 2012; approaching a 13-year-old claiming suicidality and requesting hugs in 2014; and sexually grooming an individual online whom he believed to be 15 in 2018. Following his Kendal conviction, he served a jail term and relocated to Carlisle, changing his name to evade detection.
At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Georgia Kennedy-Curnow detailed the February incident, highlighting its disturbing parallels to past crimes. Defending barrister Clare Thomas argued Huddart had accepted responsibility, attributing the breach to recent alcohol consumption after months of abstinence and isolation from his sexual harm prevention order, which bans approaching lone females. She noted his progress in supported accommodation in Lancashire before moving to Carlisle's John Street hostel, and verbal abuse following media coverage of his prior case. Thomas suggested a ban from Carlisle could enable a fresh start.
Judge Michael Fanning rejected these pleas, stating Huddart's interactions with women demonstrated an inability to form appropriate relationships. He emphasised public entitlement to know of Huddart's risks, particularly to vulnerable lone females, and that press reporting was justified to prevent further offences. On an unspecified date in 2024, the judge sentenced Huddart to 18 months' imprisonment for breaching his order. A new indefinite sexual harm prevention order was imposed, prohibiting approaches to female strangers except for necessities like obtaining goods or services or during therapy.
This case underscores broader issues with sex offender management, as revealed by a News & Star investigation. Cumbria Constabulary supervises 48 sex offenders who changed names in the last five years, with numbers rising: 15 in 2023, 12 in 2024, and four so far in the current year. As of July 2025, 939 sex offenders are monitored in the community, up from 932 in December 2024. Campaigners like Emily Konstantas of The Safeguarding Alliance and MP Sarah Champion have criticised the name-change loophole, advocating for tighter controls under proposed reforms in the Government's Crime and Policing Bill, which requires police notification for name changes. Della's Law seeks to further prevent such evasions to protect victims.