Stephen Vincent

Stephen Vincent, a 60-year-old man from Hartlepool, has a history of sexual offences involving the grooming of minors. On New Year's Eve 2022, Vincent engaged in an online conversation with a decoy Facebook profile posing as a 13-year-old girl. During the exchange, he offered sex to the supposed child and dismissed concerns about the age difference by stating that 'age was just a number'. This led to his arrest and subsequent conviction.

In February 2024, Vincent was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court to a two-year suspended prison term for attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming. As part of the sentence, he was made subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which imposed strict conditions on his use of devices and online activities to prevent further harm.

However, Vincent breached the SHPO shortly after. In 2024, he failed to register a smart device with the police within the required three days. This violation came to light during an investigation into nuisance calls he made to Cleveland Fire Brigade. When officers visited his home, Vincent denied possessing a phone, but inconsistencies in his story—such as how he had booked a taxi—led to the discovery of the unregistered device.

On Tuesday, 8 April 2026, Vincent appeared via videolink from prison at Teesside Crown Court, having pleaded guilty to another breach of the SHPO. During a routine police visit to his home on 10 February 2026, officers examined his mobile phone and found a dating app open with messages sent under the alias 'BigStephen60', which had not been registered with police as required. Additionally, evidence showed that several dating apps had been deleted from the device without permission from his police offending manager. Although the conversations from the deleted apps could not be recovered, the breaches were clear violations of the order prohibiting the use of alias names and deletion of apps without approval.

Judge Andrew Hatton sentenced Vincent to 12 months in jail for these breaches. Vincent, formerly of Grosvenor Gardens in Hartlepool, has nine previous convictions for 21 offences, underscoring his pattern of non-compliance and risk to the public. The case was reported by Teesside Live, highlighting ongoing efforts by Cleveland Police to enforce protective orders against sex offenders.