Tonbridge sex offender is jailed

Speedy investigative work by officers helped identify a victim of a repeat sex offender from Tonbridge whilst he was in custody.

Luis Clifton was arrested on 22 April 2026 on suspicion of breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), following an unannounced visit by officers to his home address.

Devices were seized including a phone, which he was not permitted to have.

Whilst he was being interviewed in custody, specialist officers trawled through his phone and found the 22 year old had been communicating with an underage teenage girl on a social media app.

This was a further breach of his SHPO and the investigators pursued immediate lines to identify the vulnerable victim. She was contacted along with her parents and provided evidence of further offences.

Clifton, of Oakmead in Tonbridge, was further arrested for these additional offences whilst he was in detention. He was later charged with 6 counts of sexual activity with a child, breach of his SHPO, failure to comply with the Sex Offenders Register requirements, 2 counts of making indecent images of children and threatening to share an intimate photograph.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Monday 27 July at Maidstone Crown Court to 7 years' imprisonment. He was also given a 10 year restraining order against the victim and his SHPO has been extended.

Detective Maddison Jarvis, investigating officer, said:
‘Our investigators worked diligently under pressure in a race against the custody clock to identify and contact the victim whilst Clifton was detained. This ensured he was arrested for further, and more serious, offences about which he was then interviewed.
'Clifton is a depraved individual who showed no regard for the restrictions imposed by the court that allowed him to live in the community. Instead, he wrongly believed he could get away with committing further offences.
'We regularly monitor sex offenders to ensure they comply with the conditions placed on them and will take action if we believe they are being broken, as in this case.
'For anyone who is a victim of this type of crime, I would urge you to please report it to police. It is never too late to contact us and our specialist investigators will listen to you and support you throughout.'