A PERVERT has breached a court order designed to prevent him from offending for the third time.

Ian William Strickland admitted that he breached a sexual harm prevention order imposed after he was previously jailed for a string of child sex offences.

The 45-year-old was convicted of breaching the order when he appeared at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard it was the third occasion that he broken the order.

Magistrates were told that on June 8, Strickland was found in possession of a mobile phone capable of accessing the internet that he had failed to disclose to his offender manager.

That put him in breach of the court order, which was handed down in 2019.

The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge and is due to be sentenced at a crown court.

Magistrates chose to remand Strickland in custody until he appears at Preston Crown to be sentenced.

They said had ‘substantial grounds’ to believe he would commit further offences if he were bailed.

Magistrates also took into account the number of times he had breached the order.

The defendant, of Lesh Lane in Barrow, is due to appear at the court on August 9 to be sentenced.

The order was imposed by in May, 2019, after Strickland tried to groom three children through video game Call of Duty.

He was caught out when Microsoft passed his details to the police.

Strickland was playing the Infinite Warfare edition of the X-box game when he started sexual conversations with two 12-year-old girls and a boy, 13.

Preston Crown Court heard Strickland had spoken to one girl almost daily between February and April, 2018, telling her she was smart, beautiful and had a nice body.

The schoolgirl said it was ‘kind of weird’ Strickland, who pretended to be 18, was sending these messages to a girl of 12.

Between March and April, Strickland targeted another girl, also 12.

He promised her massages and asked about her body, telling her: “If you come here it will be just you and me, babe.”

Strickland’s third victim was a 13-year-old boy.

The pervert asked him to visit him when he went to the area the boy lived in, telling him: “Maybe you can come to my B&B room rather than going to school.”

Strickland first came to the attention of the police and courts when he was stung by a group of paedophile hunters in 2018.

Police were called after the group, Dark Light, confronted and detained him at his home.

He was given an 18-month jail term by the judge after pleading guilty to a string of child sex offences.

The charges include one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and one count of attempting to meet a child under 16 after grooming.

He was also convicted of one count of attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child and one count of attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child — no penetration.

Strickland was released in February, 2019, with strict conditions he must inform police of any device capable of accessing the internet and make it available for on-the-spot checks.