A REGISTERED sex offender has been given a suspended jail sentence after police discovered he had flouted a court order that banned him from having any unfettered access to the internet.

Keith Andrew Bell, 49, was put on the Sex Offenders’ Register after previous offences relating to child abuse images which he had collected because of “a sexual addiction to children”, the court was previously told.

His latest offence came to light after he confessed to a probation officer that he had been using internet devices belonging to his mother.

As a result, police visited his home near Carlisle on August 14 and confirmed that the iPad and laptop involved were not fitted with the required police approved monitoring software.

The defendant admitted two breaches of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

When questioned, the defendant, of Tribune Drive, Houghton, told police his use of the devices was to do with internet banking, online shopping, or satellite navigation, and all of his use was supervised by his mother. “She said that she herself had difficulty with it and wanted technical assistance,” said Mr Burke.

The defendant’s previous crimes consisted of 22 offences, including his first set of sexual offences in 2014 when he was prosecuted for amassing more than 1,000 indecent photographs of children - the youngest aged just one - over an eight-year period.

Between March 2015 and late 2016, he downloaded more illegal child abuse images, including seven of the most serious category.

Judge Nicholas Barker imposed a four month jail term but suspended it for a year.

He told Bell: “You knew you were not meant to have access to those devices and you could easily have told police at the beginning of August.”

The judge recognised that Bell volunteered this information to a Probation officer and that was why the offences came to light.

There was no suggestion that Bell had done anything with the devices that he should not have been doing. “But that does not affect the fact that you had unfettered access to those devices,” said the judge.

Judge Barker added that the defendant must work with those who are trying to help him because he had come “perilously close” to using up all of his chances.