A convicted Carlisle sex offender has been sentenced again — for the illegal possession of two iPhones and trying to scupper a police probe into his latest offending.
Allan Smith, 34, of Stonegarth, was punished at the city’s crown court in 2017 for inciting a 15-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity.
Smith was also made subject to the terms of a five-year sexual harm prevention order, which remains operational until July this year. Conditions prohibited him from using any internet-capable device not fitted with monitoring software or made available for inspection; and hindering or obstructing officers seeking to examine devices.
But on June 3 last year, when police went to his city home, they found two iPhones, one of which was being charged in the living room. There was also a charger plugged in next to his bed.
Smith refused to provide PINs for the devices — police saw Facebook Messenger home screen alerts — and claimed the phones belonged to his brother. But his sibling said that was not the case.
Smith, a former Eden Valley poultry factory worker, admitted two breaches of the order and was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today..
Recorder Andrew Nuttall heard Smith led an isolated existence, having lost his job following his previous conviction, and latterly spent much time on an allotment, caring for pigeons and ducklings.
He also considered a lengthy psychological report, and noted that the defendant had not committed any offence since being handed a six-month jail term in 2018 for affray.
Opting not to sent Smith to prison, Recorder Nuttall imposed a 12-month community order comprising a rehabilitation activity requirement and 200 hours’ unpaid work.
Warning Smith that the punishment was not a let-off, the judge told him: “In my view, society is a better place with you completing this order rather than what, I accept, would be the devastating effect of you being sent to prison and all that would entail.”
