A SEX offender spurned the chance given by a judge by failing to inform police he owned a mobile phone.

Trent Johnson, 21, was made subject of a two-year suspended prison sentence, with a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), requiring him to tell police if he had any devices capable of internet access.

The sentence was imposed in May, after he admitted inciting a girl aged 14 to engage in sexual activity, at a time he was aged 19.

Durham Crown Court was told police received information Johnson had been accessing the internet, despite having not informed police of any devices capable of doing so, in August.

Police visited him at his home and despite his claim that he had no internet accessing device, an X-Box was found in a bedroom.

He was taken to a police station and made no comment when questioned, but his ex-partner told officers he had been contacting her by social media via a phone for months.

Jane Waugh, prosecuting, said a relative of Johnson took police to a neighbour’s address, from where his phone was retrieved.

Confronted with that information Johnson provided police with his PIN number, and examination of the phone revealed appliances in his name, including X-Box and Snapchat.

Johnson, 21, of South View, Bishop Auckland, admitted breaching both the SHPO and the suspended sentence.

Ian West, for Johnson, said despite the breach, the defendant had otherwise complied with the order made in May, attending all but one of 25 probation appointments.

But Recorder Simon Kealey QC told Johnson it was a “clear breach” of the order imposed only months earlier.

He activated 18-months of the suspended sentence and added six months for breaching the SHPO, making a total two-year prison sentence.

Johnson was reminded he will remain subject to the ten-year SHPO and sex offender registration.

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