A sex offender has been remanded in custody after admitting that he hid his conviction from his then-girlfriend – who has three children under the age of 18.
At Swindon Magistrates’ Court on 6 October, 45-year-old Raymond Clement pleaded guilty to five breaches of the Sex Offenders’ Register notification requirements.
He was ordered to sign the register for five years after being convicted of sexually assaulting a female in 2018. He also has a conviction for sexual assault in Germany in 2012.
Prosecutor Kate Prince said that the defendant, who is from Swindon but of no fixed abode, moved in with his girlfriend – who has children aged 14, 16 and 17 – in May this year.
Clement didn’t inform his police offender manager or the woman he was living with, despite them being in a relationship for around a year. When Wiltshire Police found out, they informed the woman and she immediately ended the relationship.
He also spent four days out of the UK without informing the police in April this year, and in August he secretly left the UK again – this time to visit Madrid.
Despite the police interviewing him over the first set of breaches in July, he continued breaching the order. Clement also has a previous caution for a breach.
Tim Morgan, defending, said: “I accept my client’s prolonged period of non-compliance”.
He said the defendant had met a woman online and started a relationship. Fearing it would not progress if he disclosed his conviction, he did not have the “difficult conversation” with her.
Addressing one of the breaches relating to travel abroad, Mr Morgan said Clement went on holiday with his girlfriend because he “wasn’t aware of a way he could get out of it”.
Following a year-long, his girlfriend asked him to move in with her. She still wasn’t aware of his conviction at his point, so he agreed.
Mr Morgan said Clement had been living in his car near Stanton Park but was managing to hold down his job at Bookers in Oxford. He said that he had become “depressed since the relationship breakdown” and has sought counselling.
Magistrates remanded him in custody ahead of sentencing on 27 October.
Clement could be heard sobbing in the dock before saying: “I have made some really stupid decisions, but I have a job to go to.”
