A notorious Perth paedophile who broke a strict court order just minutes after his release from prison is back behind bars.
Joseph Millbank bought a mobile phone with internet capabilities the morning he left HMP Glenochil – but failed to mention it to police.
It was a blatant breach of his Sexual Offence Prevention Order (SOPO).
The 62-year-old later complained that he didn’t known the terms of the order because someone had spilt coffee on the document when they handed it to him in his cell.
Perth Sheriff Gillian Wade said she didn’t buy his excuse and sentenced him to another two years in jail.
Millbank, previously from Luncarty, was branded a danger to the public after he was caged in 2002 for a catalogue of abuse against 35 children as young as three in Dundee and Aberdeen.
He went on the run after his early release from prison and was later caught in St Tropez in the south of France, before being brought back to Scotland to face justice.
Dropped off at the train station
Fiscal depute Michael Dunlop told Perth Sheriff Court: “On March 29, 2022, the accused was liberated from HMP Glenochil.
“He was transported to Stirling train station where he intended to travel on to Kent.”
After he was dropped off at the station, Millbank took a taxi to a nearby Tesco.
“At 10am, police received intelligence that the accused had attended at the supermarket and purchased a mobile phone,” said the prosecutor.
The court heard that Millbank returned to his home city of Perth later that day.
“He checked in at an address in Skinnergate,” said Mr Dunlop.
“The following day, the accused contacted the sex offender policing unit and advised he had tried to attend at Perth police station earlier (as per his notification requirements) but it wasn’t open.
“Arrangements were made for the accused to come in at Midday on March 31.”
Millbank attended at the appointment on time.
But he was arrested after officers challenged him about the mobile phone.
Not buying ‘coffee’ excuse
Millbank pleaded guilty to breaching an interim SOPO, by failing to notify police about having a phone which would access the internet and send messages.
Solicitor Graham Inch, defending, said: “He was served with the SOPO on the day of his release.
“He tells me when the officer brought the document to his cell, something like coffee was spilt on it.
“He told the officer: ‘I’m not taking that.’
“Mr Millbank indicated to me that he believed it was some sort of travel restriction.”
Mr Inch said: “He accepts that he had the phone in his possession.
“He should have known what was in this order, and if he didn’t he should have checked with the police.”
Sheriff Wade said: “I’m not sure that I’m buying his excuse, to be honest.”
She said: “This was an offence that occurred immediately upon his release.
“The nature of this offence is not itself sexual. This is a breach of a court order and has to be dealt with as such.
“In the circumstances, I proposed a period of imprisonment of two years.”
French authorities
The case had been hit by delays because Millbank had quibbled with prosecutors’ claims that he had committed a crime while in France, under a different name.
Mr Dunlop said that inquiries had been made with French authorities to confirm the alleged conviction.
Police in France had been asked to send across a set of fingerprints to confirm whether or not Millbank was the same person involved in the crime.
However, after months of negotiations – and no fingerprints forthcoming – Sheriff Wade opted to sentence Millbank with the matter unresolved.
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