A YOUNG Carlisle man previously prosecuted for having child abuse images was brought back to court for accessing a website whose title includes the word “deviant.”

As a result of his earlier offending, 20-year-old Nathan Brown is under a legal obligation to keep the police informed about websites or social media platforms that he subscribes to.

This is a condition of a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order that he was given in June of last year for offences of downloading indecent images of children. But on June 4 this year, police monitoring systems picked up information that Brown had accessed a social media website called DeviantArt.

When officers visited his home, he admitted that he had not been sure whether he needed to notify the police about the website.

In August last year, the court heard, he was cautioned for breaching the terms of his registration on the Sex Offender Register and there was a breach of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order in January of this year.

Prosecutor Brendan Burke said investigations had confirmed that website involved featured “normal art” and had no sexual content.

“But he can’t just create accounts without telling anybody,” said Mr Burke. Brown pleaded guilty to breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order

Marion Weir, for Brown, of Hillary Grove, Carlisle, said the mischief of his offence was not the website the defendant accessed, but his failure to notify the police that he was using it.

The earlier sentence included a sexual treatment programme, but it was revoked because of concerns about Brown’s ability to understand the course.

He is now being assessed for ADHD and autism, she added.

Judge Michael Fanning told the defendant: “Nathan Brown, this is becoming a habit. You keep coming before the court for broadly the same sort of offending: it’s misuse of the internet.

“You know the terms of your order; you must tell your supervising police officer about every aspect of your use of the internet, and you haven’t done that.

"In some respects, that’s dishonesty.”

Such behaviour was also manipulative, appearing to be an attempt to get round the order. “Choosing to access a website with that word in the title… I wonder as to the purpose of that.

“There is a degree to which you are testing the water, seeing how good the police are at monitoring your behaviour.”

Ordinarily, said the judge, breaches of a sexual harm prevention order would result in a jail sentence but, given Brown’s age and his background, and his immaturity, a community sentence could be passed.

The judge warned: “It’s got to stop. I want the Probation Service to continue working with you.” He imposed a new two-year community order, with 20 rehabilitation activity days.

Judge Fanning added: “You know that if you breach this order again, or commit any indecent image related offences, you will have run out of luck and you will go to custody… You will not escape going to prison if you offend in the same way again.

"This is your chance.”