Blackpool paedophile attempted to cover up his sexual offences against children by blaming imaginary twin
A “despicable” Blackpool paedophile attempted to cover up his sexual offences by blaming an imaginary twin.
Officers received a report that Andrew Sullivan had breached his existing Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by being in contact with young children.
It came after the parents of one of the children raised concerns about his past offences.
In response, Sullivan claimed it was his twin brother who had committed the crimes and that he had since taken his own life.
However, the parents investigated the claim and discovered that no such twin existed. It was, in fact, Sullivan who was subject to the SHPO.
They subsequently reported the matter to police.
Officers conducted enquiries and found that Sullivan had sexually assaulted one of the children he had been in contact with.
Sullivan’s phone was also forensically examined and 1,346 illicit images of children were found.
701 of these images were graded as ‘Category A’, meaning the worst possible grading. All of the 1,346 files were videos.
He was charged with three counts of Sexual touching of a male child, causing a male child to engage in sexual activity, possession of indecent images of children and breach of a SHPO.
Sullivan, 32, now of no fixed abode, but formerly of Dickson Road, Blackpool, was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday, May 23.
He was jailed for 12 years and will be required to sign the sex offenders register for life.
He will also be subjected to a lifelong SHPO. The conditions of this include prohibiting him from having unsupervised contact with children and limiting his access to the internet.
Sullivan was also sentenced for the rape of a child under 13 and sexual assault of a child which took place in the Kent area in 2007.
Det Chief Sam Schofield, of Blackpool Police, said: “Sullivan is a despicable individual who committed abhorrent crimes against children.
“He believed he was being cunning, hiding his previous convictions and lying to facilitate his access to children. Thanks to the inquisitive nature of the parents, his lies were uncovered and began to unravel.
“He will now serve a custodial sentence for his actions both in Kent and Lancashire.”
He added: “Today I want to praise the bravery of the victim.
“He and his family have shown incredible strength and bravery throughout proceedings.
“I hope that they can now begin to move on with their lives knowing that Sullivan is behind bars.”