A repeat sex offender has been handed an immediate 32-month prison sentence for copycat crimes.
Carlisle Crown Court heard today how 41-year-old Graham Bain was originally punished in 2016 after striking up sexually charged chat on a dating website with who he thought was a girl aged 14.
But Bain — whose messages included a lewd video — was actually communicating with an undercover police officer.
Bain was handed a suspended prison sentence, given community requirements and a sexual harm prevention order, which imposed restrictions on his liberty and online use.
But Bain was brought back to court after similar offending came to light earlier this year.
Police visited his home address and learned he had four mobile phones which were not fitted with police approved surveillance software as they should have been.
This amounted to a breach of the order, as did Bain’s refusal to provide PIN codes for the devices.
It also emerged Bain had been involved in illegal, sexually explicit chat with a police officer posing online as a 14-year-old girl between March 31 and April 24 this year.
Bain was aware of the child’s age as he suggested they meet at a hotel for sex. He also sent two crude images and a video of himself engaged in a lewd act.
When brought to court he admitted attempting to cause or inciting a child aged 14 to look at an image showing a person engaging in sexual activity; attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child; and multiple order breaches.
Marion Weir, mitigating, said the primary plank of Bain’s mitigation was the entry of guilty pleas.
Judge Nicholas Barker, who sentenced Bain, latterly of The Crescent, Cleator Moor, told him: “You are well aware of the serious of what you are doing.”
Bain remains subject to a the strict terms of an order and also sex offender notification requirements for an indefinite period.
