On-the-run sex offender living 'off grid' in Wales

An on-the-run sex offender who refuses to register his address with police was living "off grid" in west Wales, a court has heard.

Christopher Spelman was released from prison in Dorset in July last year but refused to tell the authorities where he was living and disappeared. Police launched a series of public appeals for information on the movements of the 66-year-old - including on the TV programme Crimewatch - but his whereabouts remained unknown until he walked into a Pembrokeshire police station.

The defendant's barrister told Swansea Crown Court that the defendant did not accept the conviction for child sex offences which led to him being on the sex offenders register in the first place but now wished to live a more normal life with appropriate accommodation.

Brian Simpson, prosecuting, told the court that Spelman was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2014 for 12 counts of sexually assaulting a girl under 14 and was put on the sex offenders register for life.

He said one of the requirements of the registration scheme was that the defendant must log his address with police within three days of moving in.

The prosecutor said that on July 4, 2025, the defendant was released from prison in Dorset but made it clear to staff that he had no intention of registering an address with the police and planned to buy a tent and "live off grid". 

When the defendant failed to contact police in Lancashire to tell them of his address a manhunt was launched which included appeals to the public for help and an appearance on the popular Crimewatch television programme.

Officers said they believed the defendant was travelling around the UK on public transport and staying in campsites, and they urged anyone with information to come forward.

Detectives said he had links to the Merseyside, Manchester, Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire areas.

The court heard that Spelman walked into Haverfordwest police station on January 3 this year and was arrested. It is not known for how long he had been in Pembrokeshire.

Christopher Spelman, of no fixed abode, had previously pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders registration scheme when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

He has 11 previous convictions for 29 offences including 12 counts of sexual assault of a child under 14 for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison, and failing to comply with notification requirements.

The court heard that after his release in 2016 at the halfway point of his 2014 sentence the defendant failed to give the police his address and on that occasion he was at large for some five years before being caught.

Andrew Evans, for Spelman, said the case was "an unusual one in many, many ways". He said the defendant did not accept his guilt in relation to the 2014 matters and the sex registration requirements that came with the conviction, and said at many points over the years Spelman had "made it clear that he wishes to live outside society".

However, the advocate said that over the years the defendant had "slowly recognised" that whatever the grievance he had with the jury's verdicts and whatever his view of the original conviction, he was subject to a court order which he must comply with.

He said Spelman now wanted to live a more normal life in society with appropriate accommodation, and he said the defendant had asked him to invite the court to pass a custodial sentence which would allow arrangements to be put in place for his eventual release.

Judge Geraint Walters said there were signs in the pre-sentence report that the defendant wanted to make changes in his life, and he warned him that future breaches of the court order would only result in longer prison sentences.

With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Spelman was sentenced to 10 months in prison. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.