Oxfordshire paedophile fails to overturn public toilet ban

Linus Rickett was 20 when he was handed a five-year jail sentence in 2019 for filming boys using urinals and posing as a young girl online in order to trick boys into speaking to him.

He was handed a sexual harm prevention order limiting his access to cameras and banning him from using toilets to which the public had access.

Rickett, formerly of Abingdon, was back in front of Oxford Crown Court on Wednesday (October 11) as he sought to lift the lavatory exclusion.

READ MORE: Abingdon man handed five year jail time for child sex offences

Judge Nigel Daly was told that Rickett, who was released from custody on licence at the start of this month, suffered from irritable bowel syndrome. The condition meant he might be left needing to use the toilet without warning.

Police officers responsible for managing his compliance with the sexual harm prevention order suggested the court order could be amended to allow the sex offender to use disabled toilets open to the public.

But the judge noted that Rickett was not registered as disabled, telling the officers: “This is a case of all or nothing, I’m afraid.”

READ MORE: Find all our stories from Oxford's courts

Refusing the application to amend the order, Judge Daly said: “The reason for [the toilet ban] condition is that a significant amount of his offending – not the most serious but nonetheless a significant amount of such offending – took place in public toilets and it involved young children.

“Young children are entitled to the protection of the courts and a sexual harm prevention order is intended to prevent people from being subjected to this sort of behaviour.

“It is put to me by representatives for Mr Rickett and [his probation officer] that this is going to cause him extreme difficulty because he does have, and I have medical evidence to that effect, irritable bowel syndrome.

That means he needs to use the lavatory suddenly, on numerous occasions, without necessarily getting much of a warning.”

Judge Nigel Daly (Image: Oxford Mail)

But he added: “It’s been brought to my attention he has not been released from prison for very long. Taking that into account, I consider that this application is premature.

“I am not saying it is wrong. I’m not saying it might not be granted in the future, but I think it is premature and could be made after six months.”

Rickett, currently living in approved bail premises in Reading, was sitting in court to hear the judgment.

Having been handed an extended sentence of five years imprisonment with an additional three years on licence, Rickett will remain under probation service supervision until the second half of the decade.