A SEX offender near Ellesmere who failed to register a new address has been given a 12-month community order and ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work.

Joel Wroe, 32, and now living in Cockshutt, pleaded guilty to two breaches of a sex offenders register on December 18, 2021 after he failed to register his new address in Lancashire where had been living.

Appearing at Telford Magistrates Court, Wroe told the court that he had been evicted at short notice at a property near Haslingden, in Lancashire, and had moved back to Cockshutt to his mother's address.

He told the court that he had not expected to be given a room, because of issues between him and his mother's partner, and did not make long-term plans for accommodation, expecting to sleep rough.

However, he was accepted into the property but did not register his new address within three days – which he called a 'genuine mistake – and was arrested for being in breach.

Telford magistrates heard that Wroe had complied with all aspects of the order for the eight years since he first offended, and had panicked that the immediate eviction would lead to him going to prison.

Wroe was given a community order of 60 hours unpaid work within 12 months and was ordered to pay £185 costs and a victim surcharge of £95.