Serial sex offender jailed after wandering around Scarborough with lock knife

Godfrey Bignell, whose criminal career dates back to the early 1970s, returned to his old stomping ground on the east coast for what he claimed was a holiday, York Crown Court heard.

He was swiftly brought to book after police found him with the blade in a betting shop in Westborough.

Prosecutor Tayo Dasaolu said that Bignell was supposed to notify police of a change of whereabouts or address under the terms of his notification requirements as a registered sex offender, but he didn’t do this when he went on his jaunt to Scarborough.

Bignell, who had lived or been staying in the town as recently as 2021, had lately been living in Doncaster.

He had been subject to notification requirements and a sexual-harm prevention order after being convicted of his latest sexual offences in 2018.

“In March this year his registered address was in Doncaster but when that was visited by his support workers, they realised he had not been staying there,” said Ms Dasaolu.

“There were further enquiries regarding bank withdrawals which brought (police) officers to Scarborough.

“He was found in Scarborough on March 23 after a member of the public approached police officers on duty and informed them there was a man in a nearby betting shop covered in blood.

“They found him in the shop where he was stopped and searched.

"He was found to have a knife.”

Bignell told officers he was on holiday in Scarborough and that he had stayed in a bed-and-breakfast for a few nights.

He claimed he had suffered a bloody nose after a fall.

He said he had been in Scarborough for about a week and was carrying the knife to remove a tag attached to a new belt.

Bignell, whose last registered address was Beckett Road, Doncaster, admitted breaching his notification requirements and possessing a knife in public.

He appeared for sentence via video link on June 28 after being remanded in custody.

The court heard he had a criminal record dating back more than 50 years, including convictions for indecent exposure, sexual offences against children, violence, outraging public decency and breaching court orders designed to prevent further sexual offending.

He had served numerous prison sentences down the years, the latest being an 18-month jail term imposed at York Crown in August 2021.

Jazmine Lee, mitigating, said that Bignell had serious mental-health issues which had been confirmed by a doctor’s report.

She said there was no suggestion he had been talking to children during his stay in Scarborough.

A probation report recommended an immediate prison sentence because Bignell, a “high-risk” offender, was unmanageable in the community.

Judge Sean Morris described Bignell’s record as “worrying” particularly as he was in a seaside town “where children go” and said that his carrying of the knife was “incredibly dangerous”.

He told the pensioner: “You are 71 and you are coming back before the courts again and again for breaches of (the court orders).

“I don’t think you are going to get any help on the outside because you won’t help yourself and you do need help.”

Bignell was handed an 18-month jail sentence of which he will serve half behind bars.