Sex offending pensioner breached court order by using an alias online and failing to declare a bank card

Malcolm Mortimer, 66, had been convicted in March 2017 of making and distributing indecent images of children.

He was being managed by a specialist team which regularly checks that he is obeying restrictions on his use of electronic equipment.

The officer discovered a laptop computer at his Hartlepool home which showed that he had been using an alias on the internet, Teesside Crown Court was told.

He also had a new bank card which had not been declared, said prosecutor Rachel Masters.

Miss Masters said that Mortimer had been assessed as a low-risk offender before the visit on October 8 last year.

Mortimer told the officer that he had not intended to get around any prohibition imposed on him.

The court heard a game on the the laptop was installed on it when it was taken from him on his original arrest, and that it was still there when it was returned to him.

He said that the new bank card had been given to him.

Michael Cahill, defending, said that the discoveries made by the officer had been a wake-up call for Mortimer.

He added: “He knew that he should be much more careful so that he does not get into trouble again.

”He was not seeking to hide anything from the officer when she attended.”

Mortimer, of Trident Close, Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order by using an alias on the internet, and he also admitted failing to comply with notification requirements by failing to register a bank account.

Judge Howard Crowson told him: “Most breaches of Sexual Harm Prevention Orders are by people just trying to avoid their requirements.

”The game was something that was already on the computer and you assumed that the police had seen it.

”You are generally co-operative and these were oversights rather than trying to prevent the police from doing their job.”

Mortimer was given a 12 month-conditional discharge and ordered to pay a £21 community charge.

The judge added: “If in the next 12 months you prove me wrong by doing things again then you will be sentenced accordingly, but I don’t think it will be necessary.”

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