The convicted sex offender also fell foul of the law after placing a series of online adverts for topless cleaners
A sex offender refused to pay an escort her £720 bill or make her a cup of tea before ditching her in a pub car park. Matthew Bushell’s desire to seek out the services of sex workers saw him sent back to prison this week after his internet activities led to him breaching a court order designed to prevent him from committing further crimes.
His record shows a long history of offending linked to escorts, dating back nearly two decades, including even “reporting his dissatisfaction with their services to the police” on occasions. His habit also saw him foul fall of the law when he placed a series of online adverts for topless cleaners.
The ECHO previously reported that Bushell first appeared in court in August 2006, when an escort called the police after he failed to pay for her services then ditched her in a pub car park. She later recalled: “He didn’t even make me a cup of tea.”
Sefton Magistrates’ Court heard on this occasion that the unemployed man told her that he was unable to afford her £720 charge for their six hours together because his obsession with phone sex lines and escorts had left him bankrupt. The then 33-year-old was said to be without funds after paying out £15,000 for escorts over two years, having developed an “unhealthy obsession” with sex.
The escort, a mature student who fell into sex work after spotting an advert in a newspaper, had travelled from Bradford to Bushell’s home in Southport after receiving a text from him before agreeing a fee of £120 per hour and agreeing to meet at Lime Street Station. He then took her back to his house for sex, promising to pay her later.
Having subsequently offered to take her out for a drink, he instead dumped her in the car park of the Victoria pub and subsequently messaged her saying: “Sorry. Had to do it. Did not have a penny at the time. Hope you got home safely.”
Bushell went on to admit a charge of dishonestly obtaining services. He was handed a two-year supervision order and told to pay £65 in court costs.
The 37-year-old victim told the ECHO: “From the start, my experience was quite odd because he lied about where he lived, so we had to drive for about an hour until we got to his house. I thought there would be a bit of wining and dining because, as I told him, and as I was told in my introduction to escorting, that it wasn’t just about sex.
“I thought it would be going out to dinners and events, and maybe a bit glamorous. But Bushell didn’t even make me a cup of tea, even though I asked him twice.”
Her suspicions then became heightened after they arrived at the pub, adding: “I started to feel really paranoid. He was acting really cagey. He was supposed to get me the money at the pub. He seemed so trusting that I didn’t even think he wouldn’t pay. But he told me to wait in the pub and he sped off like a mad man.
“I was on my own, somewhere I didn’t know and had no money and no credit on my phone. The only thing I thought was to go to the police. The cops said I could either leave it and put it down to experience or prosecute. I decided that I should teach him a lesson. I have been totally stupid and just hope that I can warn other girls who are thinking about it. It’s not worth it.”
Bushell went on to sexually assault two women in 2013, with the complainants having visited his house after responding to adverts he had placed on Gumtree seeking out female cleaners. This led to him being handed a hospital order in May 2014, before his subsequent release in February 2015.
This conviction also led to him being subjected to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. This prevents the now 52-year-old from deleting his internet history, amongst a number of other terms restricting his online activities.
Bushell was subsequently spared jail in February 2018 after he was convicted of breaching the order by placing further ads for cleaners. He was later convicted of harassment against a female doctor, who he sent “abusive and insulting messages” to, and also criminal damage, having trashed cars during a drunken “spree”.
Then, in December 2020, he placed a number of adverts on escort website Viva Street under the username “CoolBoy47”, asking if “ladies wanted horny fun”. This saw Bushell post a total of 32 notices “inviting them to engage in sex work”, with some “advertising for topless cleaning services” and others “offering payment for sexual services”, which he later told police was “consensual sexual entertainment”.
A court heard in December 2021 that he suffered from Asperger’s syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder, as well as having an IQ of 71. He was locked up for two years on this occasion.
Liverpool Crown Court then heard this week that Merseyside Police paid a visit to Bushell’s home on Cobden Road in Southport on June 3 last year, shortly after his release from an earlier spell in jail, in order to ensure his compliance with the SHPO. While Bushell handed over his mobile phone and a tablet computer upon request, it was subsequently discovered that he had wiped the browsing history of both devices earlier the same day.
Ben Stanley, prosecuting, described how, when questioned on the matter, he claimed that he “didn’t want prison staff to see his browsing history while he was in prison”. The PC however pointed out that these electronics were not available to him when he was locked up, at which stage he “admitted that he must have deleted it while intoxicated”.
Investigations thereafter discovered that Bushell had wiped the internet history from his phone on 356 previous occasions, as well as 125 times from the tablet computer. It was further established that he had searched for terms relating to online sex chats, pornographic websites and Viva Street.
Following his arrest, Bushell confessed under interview that he “was doing stuff he shouldn’t have” and had deleted his browsing history as he was “scared and thought he could get away with it”. His criminal record now shows a total of nine previous convictions for 19 offences.
Bushell has since been recalled on licence in relation to a 16-month sentence he received in July 2024 for seven counts of breaching his SHPO, and is not due to be released until November this year. Desmond Lennon, defending, told the court: “He had material on those devices which he accepts that he should not have had.
“He readily accepts that conduct. He hopes that he would have perhaps moved on from it, but, at the moment, it seems that he is unable to do so. He has had significant issues with alcohol abuse.
“He understands that he does need to try to stop getting himself into trouble in terms of his interests and to stop getting himself in breach of this order. He is in his 50s, and he really does need to move on if he possibly can.”
Bushell admitted one count of breaching a sexual harm prevention order. Appearing via video link to HMP Risley wearing a grey t-shirt two days after his birthday, he was jailed for a further eight months on Tuesday.
Sentencing, Recorder Mark Ainsworth said: “This order has been in place, in one form or another, since May 2014. There is no doubt that you were aware of the requirements. It became clear that the search history on these devices had been deleted, which, of course, was a breach of the order.
“You accepted that you were doing stuff that you should not have been doing and deleted your history, and you did that because you were scared of the consequences and thought you could get away with it. The real problem, in this case, is the fact that this is not the first time that you have been before the court for such breaches.”
