A convicted online sex offender who accessed the internet, in spite of a court order that ordered him not to do so, has been sentenced.
Martin Turnbull, 57, unemployed, of Langley Drive, Langley Green, Crawley, was handed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years at Lewes Crown Court last Thursday (April 21).
He admitted to breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), imposed in 2018 after he was convicted of possessing and distributing indecent images of children.
He was also ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work and 20 hours of rehabilitation work.
The SHPO in 2018 had included an order prohibiting him from possessing any devices that enabled him to access the internet.
But in 2021, police received a report that he had been accessing the Internet, and when they searched his home officers found six devices including a laptop and USB sticks which he had hidden, although there was no evidence that he had accessed indecent images of children.
PC Matthew Wyatt of the West Sussex VISOR Team, responsible for the supervision of registered sex offenders and SHPOs said:
"We will always follow up information about breaches of court orders by convicted sexual offenders, and bring them before the court wherever possible."
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