Long Eaton sex offender jailed for deleting internet search history

John Pilkington, 77, was originally in court for “sexual matters” in the 1980s and 1990s, Derby Crown Court was told.

In March last year, he was given a community order for possessing indecent images of children.

He was told he must obey a sexual harm prevention order, which included not possessing any software that could delete his internet search history.

Pilkington, of Rush Leys, Long Eaton, first breached the order in June by installing a “cleaner” on his computer, the court was told. He was given a 28-day prison sentence and released on October 22.

But, when police went to the defendant’s home on November 25, they discovered he had installed another “cleaner” on his computer.

Jailing Pilkington for four months, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “You cleaned your computer, ensuring that nobody was then able to follow the history of what you had been searching.

“It came shortly on the heels of having served 28 days for exactly the same thing.”

Pilkington admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Simon Stevens, in mitigation, said Pilkington had told him that he had “poor memory” and sometimes “poor comprehension”.

However, Judge Shant said she did not accept this was the case.

She said: “I take the view it was a deliberate breach. You knew exactly what you were doing.

“And you must understand the way the court enforces such orders is by taking any breach very seriously indeed.”

Mr Stevens told the courts that the Community Sex Offender Group Work Programme Pilkington had been ordered to attend in March last year had not yet begun and so his client had not yet had the benefit of any of the help.

Judge Shant instructed that, when Pilkington was released from prison, he would continue on the community order.