A ‘VULNERABLE’ Eden Valley sex offender has been given a suspended jail term for illegally having a stash of internet-enabled devices.

Graham Plant, 61, was given a sexual harm prevention order by a Carlisle Crown Court judge in 2018 for offences of possessing indecent images, and it meant he was obliged to tell police about all the IT devices he owned.

All were supposed to be fitted with police approved monitoring kit.

He pleaded guilty to five breach of his order, arising out of him secretly having a Toshiba laptop, a mobile phone, a hard-drive and USB memory sticks.

Plant’s offences came to light on May 21 last year when his police offender manager visited him at his home in Shap.

After what were said to be "thin attempts" to claim that he did not have any such undiclosed devices, Plant came clean and took the police officer to them.  Despite committing those offences, the defendant had no iillegal mages on his devices or memory sticks, the court heard.

Mark Shepherd, defending, said Plant, of West Close, Shap, was a “vulnerable” person, who had been referred to a specialist assessment service for possible autism, though there was not yet a full diagnosis.

Judge Nicholas Barker recognised that the defendant lived a “very limited lifestyle”, and he had little or no interaction with other people other than his immediate family.

“You are an isolated individual,” said the judge.

But Judge Barker felt he could suspend the eight-month sentence he was imposing because Plant was a “marginalised individual”, with vulnerabilities, who could be supported in the community through Probation Service rehabilitation.

Plant also had a low IQ, said the judge.

Judge Barker said that rehabilitation outside of prison for Plant was in the interests of society. “Overall, the community will be better served by you being worked with than by being locked up for a sentence of only a few months,” added the judge.

The sentence includes 30 days of rehabilitaiton and a three-month 7pm to 6am cufrew.

The defendant will be on the Sex Offender Register for ten years. His sexual harm prevention order will continue to run as it did previously. The jail term is suspended for two years.