Preston sex offender, 21, dubbed 'Willy Wonka' jailed for breaching court order
A sex offender dubbed Willy Wonka has been jailed for breaching a court order banning him from mixing with children.
William Cowell admitted he had stayed with his former girlfriend while her four-year-old daughter was living at the house.
Preston Crown Court heard the 21-year-old was made the subject of a Sexual Risk Order in November 2022 but was found to have spent time at his ex-partner’s home over the course of three or four months.
It was said he had taken the woman’s four-year-old daughter to the local shop and bought her sweets, after which she called him Willy Wonka after the character in Roald Dahl’s novel and film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Police were alerted after the child’s grandmother contacted Social Services to report she had seen him at the house.
Officers spoke to her and she said she thought he was staying at the house, although not full-time.
She said she had been on a WhatsApp video call with her grand-daughter and noticed Cowell was in the background.
He was also there when she called her daughter to wish her Happy Mother’s Day.
When police arrested Cowell and questioned him about a number of times he had been seen at the house, he denied each accusation. He even claimed he had never met the four-year-old girl.
The court was told this was not the first time he had been accused of breaching a Sexual Risk Order.
In September 2023 he claimed he had not known he was prevented from associating with a child.
Cowell’s defence lawyer said he was “well aware” he would be getting a custodial sentence for this latest breach, but it is right to note that there is no suggestion any harm was caused to this child”.
It was said in court that at just 21 he was immature and also had both ADHD and suspected autism, although neither condition had impacted on his offending.
He was said to be “struggling” in prison and had received threats to his safety. His childhood had been “disrupted and turbulent” and had included a period in council care.
Judge Richard Gioserano told Cowell, formerly of Preston but now of Cutler Close, Blackburn, there was no suggestion that the four-year-old had suffered any harm, “but it represented repeated contact between you and a four-year-old over a period of several months, three to four months in fact”.
He added: “I can’t say your contact with this very young girl was without risk, but I am not prepared to say it put her at very serious harm.
“This was a Sexual Risk Order imposed on you back in 2023. In fact you have already breached it once, so your position is aggravated by that. But on the other hand you are still young.”
Judge Gioserano sent Cowell to prison for 15 months saying he would serve half behind bars and the rest on licence.