A MAN accused of grooming for sex an undercover police officer posing as a teenage girl online has been taken into custody after a magistrate ruled he was an unacceptable risk to the community.
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Ronald John Bell had his bail revoked in Armidale Local Court on Wednesday, following a successful bid by police prosecutors to have him detained, after he was charged with using a carriage service to groom a person under 16 years for sexual activity.
Bell was granted bail with several conditions by a court registrar on Saturday, before it was varied on Monday to allow him to live in Tamworth.
However, police prosecutor Senior Constable Cheryl Hall said the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) had conducted an operation at the home on Tuesday night.
“There were children at that address,” she said, adding police checks of the location showed it was 50m from a Tamworth school.
“Mr Bell has been removed from that address ... he stayed the night at a hotel.”
Senior Constable Hall tendered email correspondence to the court from the department and Oxley police, submitting Bell was an unacceptable bail risk.
“Given that FACS themselves have said they wouldn’t allow him to stay at any social development housing in Tamworth without a full risk assessment ... we are asking that bail be refused,” she said.
The 47-year-old was arrested last Friday in Guyra after a police sting by investigators from the Child Exploitation Internet Unit who assumed the identity of a13-year-old girl online.
Detectives allege Bell made sexually explicit comments and requested to meet up during conversations online.
Solicitor Emma Carruthers said any “speculation by FACS” was “not supported by facts” and therefore “should not be given any weight” by the court.
“There has been no breaches of bail ... we are in a position to provide a new bail address,” she said, pointing to a local hotel in Tamworth.
Magistrate Michael Holmes said the hotel was not “suitable” and was “a place of poor repute”.
The defence was given extra time to find another address and returned to the court with a boarding house deemed suitable by the Tamworth Family Support Services, Ms Carruthers said.
“He doesn’t have a phone, he doesn’t have a computer for access,” she submitted.
“There is no allegations that he has done something improper to these children [at the house].”
Checks by the police informant, the court heard, revealed the boarding house also has children present there in the day.
“It is a privately run business,” Senior Constable Hall said. “It is a boarding house, people can come and go.
“There is no restrictions ... there is no monitoring.”
Following submissions, Mr Holmes said Bell had a “lengthy” criminal history and his community ties were “somewhat weak”.
“The strength of the case is very strong indeed,” he said, pointing to the police operation.
He said the conditions proposed would not mitigate the “unacceptable risk” posed by Bell, and ordered bail be refused. Bell was taken to the police cells and will return to court in May.