Lancaster man jailed for five years and six months for breaching Sexual Risk Order
He also sent sexually harassing messages to strangers using false social media profiles
A man from Lancaster has been jailed for repeatedly breaching his Sexual Risk Order by taking pictures of women and girls without their consent.
Peter Bebbington also created social media profiles under a false name before sending sexually harassing messages to female profiles who were strangers to him.
The 38-year-old, formerly of Newsham Road, Lancaster, appeared at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday 28th October, having pleaded guilty to 17 breaches of his Sexual Risk Order (SRO).
He was jailed for a total of five years and six months.
How the breaches came to light
Bebbington was made the subject of a five-year SRO in April 2026 but was later found to have breached it within hours.
On 15th June, he was spotted at a bus stop by an officer and tried to leave the area to stop his phone being inspected.
The phone was seized and found to have Instagram installed and using a different account name, both of which were breaches of his SRO.
Further breaches were then identified following a forensic examination and review of his devices.
Images and videos of women and girls wearing school uniform, taken in public places including shops, a train and buses, were found.
Some of the images were taken the day after he was issued the SRO by Lancaster Magistrates Court.
Messages sent to strangers
Bebbington also set up 34 Facebook Messenger chat threads using different account names, including 'John Summer', 'Mike Dalton' and 'Peter Ingham'.
He used them to send sexually harassing messages to female profiles, including "You look like filth" and "Are you selling yourself too?".
The earliest chats began a little over an hour after Bebbington was explicitly told by police not to use Facebook Messenger.
Previous breaches and sentence
Bebbington was subject to a suspended sentence order imposed on 12th May, following guilty pleas for seven previous breaches of an SRO in March 2025.
PC Adam Weaver, of the Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders team at Lancaster, said: "This is an extremely lengthy sentence for breaches of a court order, but reflects Peter Bebbington's serious and sinister actions in committing the breaches, volume of offending and offending immediately after the SRO was imposed."
PC Weaver said: "He did this for his own sexual gratification, taking pictures and videos of females, including school children, in public places without their consent and creating social media profiles under a false name to sexually harass strangers."
PC Weaver also said: "I welcome the prison sentence handed out, it shows that breaching orders put in place by the court will not be tolerated."