June 2014
Serial Exeter sex offender in court for failing to tell police he was living in a tent
A sex offender failed to sign on the register because he was living rough in a tent in the Exe Valley.
Jeffery Church, aged 66, said he forgot he had to tell the police about the location of his tent but was happy to be locked up when he was arrested because he had backache and was fed up with being homeless.
Church has a long record of breaking the terms of the register which require him to notify police of any new address within three days.
He is a vagrant who moves around Exeter, Plymouth, South and Mid Devon constantly and has failed to notify his address with the police 13 times.
Church, whose last address was a hostel in Exeter, admitted breaking the terms of the Register and his case was adjourned for another two weeks to allow him time to get legal representation.
He appeared in custody at Exeter Crown Court where he was not represented because of a dispute between local law firms and the Government over legal aid cuts.
He told the Judge he had only missed his signing on by a day and had been arrested after going to the police station to give them details of where his tent was pitched.
He said:”I was camping rough in the Exe Valley but got a back injury which became too much for me. The Sergeant said he was going to let me off with a severe warning and I said ‘sod it’ as I left and he arrested me.
“I thought at least I could go back to prison to get treatment for my back but in hindsight I should just have walked away when I had the chance.
“I want to settle down and get help to find somewhere to live and I keep trying to apply to see the housing officer at prison but the place is bursting and I haven’t been able to see anyone.”
Judge Erik Salomonsen urged Church to keep trying after being told it may be possible to find him a place at the Oakfields Project in Howell Road, Exeter.
Church has a long record of 65 different convictions, including several for sex crimes, and has repeatedly defied the conditions of the Sex Offenders’ Register since being put on it in 2008.
He has previously been jailed in Devon, Cornwall and London for failing to tell police of his whereabouts.
Church, whose last address was Smythen Street, Exeter, was jailed for ten months for an identical offence in July last year.
On that occasion he failed to register after being released from Exeter Prison after serving a jail sentence for sexually assaulting a girl at a bus stop in Plymouth.
He was originally put on the register after being convicted of sexual touching at Truro Crown Court in March 2008.
