Josh Guilder – Chelmsford

A man who notoriously has a fetish for stealing dummies from babies mouths has been returned to prison for doing it again just days after being released.

Josh Guilder, 26, had been free for just two days when he stole a dummy from a two-month-old baby who was in a pram in May this year.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard on Friday (July 31) the hooded Guilder approached a woman from behind on May 9 and “reached into the pram” to take her child’s dummy before fleeing.

Within an hour he approached another woman outside her home and asked her “can I be your baby” The woman described Guilder’s conduct leaving her “extremely uncomfortable”.

Guilder, who sat behind a desk at HMP Chelmsford and was unrepresented, told the court he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

The court heard Guilder had previously been jailed for similar offending, leading to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which he breached and was now being sentenced for.

The court was told Guilder has four convictions for 14 offences, including six occasions of approaching pushchairs and removing dummies from babies dating to 2023.

He was sent to prison at the time and made subject to the SHPO. He was returned to prison in 2024 with a 17-month sentence, but was released on May 7 this year before committing his latest crimes two days later.

Hollie Davies, prosecutor, said the first woman from the 2026 offending was “totally shocked” by the incident. While the second woman described Guilder as having “intense eyes that did not blink” and a “dead-pan expression”.

Recalling his police interview, she added: “He expressed a desire to return to prison rather than be released and be homeless. He used a dummy to stop anxiety and said he took it rather than buying one.”

But Judge Loram KC said Guilder “could go and steal a bottle of vodka” if his intentions were simply about going back to prison.

The court heard Guilder had previously admitted three offences, breaching his SHPO, a count of theft and a public order offence.

Judge Loram, sentencing, said Guilder has a “fetish about the use of dummies”.

The Judge said: “Once again you approached the mother of a baby, hooded, from behind and took the baby’s dummy. How frightening it must have been for the woman to have a stranger lurch towards her baby.”

Guilder was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for breaching the order.

He also received concurrent two-month sentences for the theft and public order offences, running concurrently with the breach term. Guilder remains subject to the SHPO.