Whitstable sex offender Kieran Marsh caught with drugs after trying to deceive police
by Paul Hooper
Whitstable man Kieran Marsh has proved the truth of poet Sir
Walter Scott's words: "Oh what a tangled web we weave... when first
we practise to deceive."
The 37-year-old sex offender was undergoing routine police
checks about his computer when he was asked about his mobile
phone.
Marsh, pictured left, decided to try to hoodwink the
officers by claiming it was lost - so they called the number.
It rang just feet away – stashed behind a radiator at his home
in Sherwood Drive, Canterbury Crown Court was told.
Then the police officers checked the text messages and
discovered suspicious details about drugs, so they asked if he had
any illegal substances in the house.
Marsh once again tried to deceive the officers by denying he had
any drugs... so the canny officers called his bluff by threatening
to bring in sniffer dogs.
And the shame-faced addict then opened a cupboard and handed
police a bag containing amphetamines – putting him at risk of
another prison sentence.
However, Marsh, who admitted possessing the class B drug and
breaching a suspended sentence, was instead ordered to carry out
150 hours of unpaid work.
Marsh was jailed for 10 months in September 2011 after admitting
possessing "vile images of bestiality" and child abuse pictures. He
was also made subject to a sex offences prevention order and put on
the sex offenders' register for 10 years.
Kieran Marsh was
sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court
Jim Harvey, prosecuting, said: "On August 15, in accordance with
him being on the register, officers attended his home address to
check up on him.
"They asked him about the whereabouts of his mobile phone and he
told them that he hadn't seen it for approximately a week. The
officers then suggested that they ring the number to assist him in
finding it.
"It rang immediately and the defendant then walked to the side
of his bed and reached behind the radiator. The officers believed
that he knew exactly where the phone was"
Officers then read the texts and "it became obvious there had
been texts between the defendant and another making references to
drugs".
Peter Alcock, defending, said Marsh, who lives alone with his
mother, had battled his drug addiction, but the requirements of
the Sex Offences Prevention Order had led him to stay at home
playing games.
"He was then bored and suffered a relapse and started doing
amphetamines," he said.
09/11/12
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