A CONVICTED child sex offender who was given a community sentence designed to rehabilitate him was accessing indecent child images within a month.

Benjamin James Kennedy, 31, was caught after police monitoring software notified the police that he had been secretly uploading indent child images through his email account, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The defendant, of Haig Avenue, Bransty, later pleaded guilty to the offending, during which he uploaded more than 300 indecent child images. Four of these were Category A, the most serious kind.

Eighteen were Category B and 288 were Category C.

Brendan Burke, prosecuting, outlined how the defendant was originally sentenced in 2021 for an offence of sexual activity with a child and causing a child to watch an image of sexual activity.

He was sentenced to a three year community order which emphasised rehabilitation, including a course designed to reform sex offenders.

“But it was as soon as May 2, 2021, that the police received intelligence from automated software that... the defendant’s email account was being used to access and upload indecent images of children”

The defendant initially refused to comment when police interviewed him but he later compiled a prepared statement saying that he had not used the phone involved for the previous two years.

Tim Evans, defending, said that the date of the defendant’s arrest was not the date when he had last accessed the images involved.

The barrister pointed out that – despite the impression given in a Probation Service report – the defendant had not offended since he took the Probation Service rehabilitation course, called New Horizons.

But, said Mr Evans, the defendant has had significant difficulty coming to terms with and admitting the challenges he faces.

Judge Nicholas Barker noted that the police raided the defendant’s address on November 5 last year and recovered the phone on which the indecent images were found.

But a worker on the New Horizons project had complimented the defendant for his work during that course, said the judge.

“You have demonstrated a willingness to open up and address your offending, which is of course  at odds with your behaviour in May 2021, through to the end of the summer,” said the judge.

But on the other hand, since his arrest, Kennedy had shown a “renewed determination” to address his offending behaviour.

“It would be a retrograde step to lock you up now, despite the fact that in many ways you thoroughly deserve it,” said the judge.

Kennedy was given an eight-month jail term, suspended for two years.

The sentence includes 20 rehabilitation activity days. He will be on the Sex Offender Register for a decade. “This must be your last appearance before the crown court or any other court,” added the judge.