Kieran Birks: Sex offender breached orders to have unsupervised contact with kids after befriending their mum
A sex offender breached multiple court orders to befriend a mother with multiple children under 15 and downloaded vile indecent images, which showed kids as young as five being abused.
Kieran Birks was the subject of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), sex offender notification requirements and bail conditions when he met the woman.
A SHPO is a type of court order which restricts an offender’s use of the internet, and prohibits contact with children in a bid to prevent further offences.
Birks, aged 24, did not inform the woman of his convictions for sex offences, including the attempted rape of a girl and of sexually assaulting a girl under 13, both of which were committed when he was just 14-years-old.
Fen Greatley-Hirsch, prosecuting, explained that as part of Birks’ SHPO, sex offender notification requirements and bail conditions following his arrest for possessing indecent images of children, he was prohibited from having any contact with children - or spending more than 12 hours in a home where kids reside - when he met the woman.
The only exceptions to the conditions around Birks having contact with children was if it was inadvertent, unavoidable or he had been given permission by the child’s parent or guardian, after they were provided with the details of his relevant criminal history.
Mr Greatley-Hirsch told the court that despite the conditions forbidding it, Birks continued to attend at the woman’s home - where her children lived - after his first visit in April 2025, and began staying overnight.
During his time at the property, Birks helped one of the woman’s children set up an online profile on their X-Box, while unsupervised.
Birks was prohibited from owning or using an internet-enabled device at that time, as part of his bail conditions, Sheffield Crown Court heard on January 26, 2026.
Birks also burst into the bedroom of the woman’s teenage daughter without knocking, which made her feel “uncomfortable,” said Mr Greatley Hirsch.
He added: “It became clear he had outstayed his welcome…she took her children to school, and asked a friend to ask him to leave, which they did.”
Birks breached his SHPO, sex offender notification requirements and bail conditions through his unsupervised contact with the woman’s children.
The court heard how Birks’ bail conditions were put in place after police were alerted that he had used his mobile phone - which was fitted with mandated monitoring software - to access indecent images of children.
Subsequent analysis of his phone and other devices revealed Birks had downloaded a single indecent image in both Category A and Category B, the former of which is the most severe of the legal categories.
The children pictured in the Category A and B images were aged between five and six, the court heard.
Birks had also downloaded a single indecent image of Category C, said to involve the abuse of a child aged around 14 or 15, and an extreme pornographic image, involving a woman engaging in sexual activity with a pig.
“Officers could readily see the device had been used to erase websites with offensive material,” Mr Greatley-Hirsch said.
He continued by telling the court that analysis also showed Birks had used a search engine which does not retain browsing data, which amounts to another breach of his SHPO.
Birks went on to commit further breaches of his court orders and bail conditions after he “took up residence” at the Rotherham town centre flat of a man he had known for around two months, said Mr Greatley-Hirsch. The male did not have any knowledge of Birks’ previous convictions, the court heard.
“He was in effect treating the place as his own, using [the man’s] internet devices, including an iPhone, Playstation 4 and Dell laptop.”
“[The male] has described how he [Birks] used the devices to obtain the details of an adult female who he had been talking to without his knowledge,” continued Mr Greatley-Hirsch.
Birks, of no fixed abode, was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, 10 sexual offences including possessing indecent images of children; possessing an extreme pornographic image; four breaches of a sexual harm prevention order and two breaches of sex offender notification requirements. All of the offences were committed in Rotherham.
Defending, Richard Adams, told the court that Birks had experienced a “difficult upbringing.”
Jailing Birks for three years, four months, Judge Peter Hampton told him: “This was very serious offending, only a sentence of immediate imprisonment - as everybody recognises - can be justified.
“Even the Probation Service, who do their best to put forward positive and constructive proposals, view you as being unmanageable in the community.”
Judge Hampton ordered Birks to remain on the sex offenders’ register for life, and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the electronic devices seized from him.