Liam Young

Liam Young, a 38-year-old former soldier originally sentenced to a lifetime on the sex offenders' register for serious sexual offences, was jailed for 28 months after admitting four breaches of his notification requirements. Teesside Crown Court heard that following his release from custody in July 2025, Young failed to inform authorities that he had changed his name by deed poll to Liam Maddison, opened a bank account in that new name, and was living at an address in the Wynyard area rather than his registered address near Barnard Castle.

Prosecutor Ralf Xhepa told the court that Young had persuaded a woman with whom he was living to lie to police when they attended the property. Officers grew suspicious that he was not residing at his official address and conducted a search, recovering a deed poll certificate confirming the name change and a bank card registered to Liam Maddison.

Young, of Baldersdale, Barnard Castle, pleaded guilty to four breaches of his notification requirement order between October 2025 and April 2026. In mitigation, Elisha Marsay said her client accepted he should have informed the woman about his history but had been "scared to death" of the consequences.

Sentencing, Recorder Caroline Goodwin KC stated: "There has been a deliberate change of name and those type of changes hide the background of an individual. In this particular case, she had no idea of the nature of the offences or your background." She imposed a total of 28 months' imprisonment and made an indefinite restraining order.