'Controlling and manipulative' Rugby man jailed after having sex with teenage girl

Decklan Flowers had pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching sexual risk and sexual harm prevention orders.

Flowers (24) of Technology Drive, Rugby, was jailed for two years and four months by a judge at Warwick Crown Court who also imposed a new indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Prosecutor Matthew Barnes said that under the original order, which had been imposed in 2015, Flowers was prohibited from having unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 18.

Following his release from custody for ‘highly relevant matters involving sexual offences with under-age girls,’ Flowers was visited by his police offender manager.

He was spoken to in October last year, and confirmed he was aware of the terms of the order.

“But a month later on the 8th of November he was seen in the company of a 17-year-old boy by the boy’s support worker.

“The defendant would have known from the need for the boy to meet his youth worker that he was under 18,” said Mr Barnes.

“More seriously, on the 14th of November the police had become aware of his relationship with a 16-year-old female, and interviewed her.”

She told officers that after meeting in a park they had been involved in ‘kissing and some touching’ – but when Flowers was arrested he admitted they had also had intercourse.

“He had told her her boyfriend was not good enough for her, and that she needed a man, not a boy.

"He bragged about having gone to prison, but lied about the reason, saying it was for a stabbing.

“She told him she was 16, and he told her it was ‘just a number,’ showing a disregard for the court order.”

Flowers had also met a 17-year-old girl in a park and began seeing her on a daily basis – but it had not led to ‘an amorous liaison’ by the time her mother found out about his past.

Mr Barnes observed that Flowers had ‘a significant, highly relevant record’ of previous convictions.

In 2011 he had appeared before the juvenile court for sexual assault on a girl of 13, and in 2013 he failed to comply with an order made on that occasion.

Then at the crown court in 2016 he was jailed for four years for three charges of sexual activity with a girl under the age of 16 and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

“He was still on licence at the time of these offences. He has shown complete and utter disregard of court orders in his pursuit of young people of that age,” Mr Barnes commented.

Arguing that Flowers could be given a suspended sentence, Nicola Purches, defending, said: “He has already spent a great deal of time in custody since the end of November, the equivalent of a 17-month sentence.”

But jailing Flowers, Judge Anthony Potter told him: “When you were released in 2019 you were visited by your offender manager and assured him you understood the terms of the order.

“But within a matter of weeks you had breached it in respect of three young people, the most serious being [the 16-year-old girl].

“You had taken part in a full sexual relationship with her. Your behaviour was controlling and manipulative.”