Telford sex offender set up tent near police station over fear of being attacked
A Telford sex offender breached his bail conditions by setting up a tent near a police station because he feared he would be attacked if he stayed in his home.
Damian Fellows even rang police to tell them he was going camping on a field near Telford's Madeley police station, prompting them to come and arrest him for failing to spend the night at his address in breach of court bail.
Prosecuting at Telford Magistrates Court, Mr Chris Coughlan said that normally the Crown Prosecution Service would demand an immediate remand in custody but in this case it was prepared to make an exception.
For Fellows, Mr Chris Grainger said the defendant was on the autistic spectrum with a moderate learning disability and had suffered one violent attack.
"He's effectively the local strange bloke and he's having to live in shared accommodation," he said.
The court was told that Fellows, 32, had been made subject to a Sex Offenders' Prevention Order for acts that included exposing himself.
Mr Grainger said the defendant's actions were "quite childlike", and added: "As an adult he needs to be told quite a lot about his conduct. Social workers have been working to ensure that this sort of faux pas does not happen again.
"Sadly there are a lot of people in this world that hear that word sexual offence and see somebody like Mr Fellows and believe it's up to them to carry out justice, and that's what's been happening. He had to move from one shared accommodation because he was violently attacked."
Magistrates were told that Fellows, of Bembridge, had suffered a fractured jaw and was punched in the face by a man holding a set of keys in his fist in an attack that left scars on this face.
One of these attackers knew someone staying at the defendant's current address, causing him to fear for his safety and to spend the night outside the address on April 23, said Mr Grainger.
He added that he had explained the correct way to go about changing an address to the defendant, however, the lack of social housing in Telford made this difficult.
Fellows was released on conditional bail and also given a electronically monitored curfew from 10pm to 7am. He is due to appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court on May 15 charged with breaching a Sex Offenders' Prevention Order.
