A SEX offender who was formerly living in Cumbria illegally used a relative’s phone to get round a court order that requires him to have all his online activity strictly monitored by the police.

Darren Knowles, 51, was originally prosecuted for attempting to communicate sexually with a child.

A sexual harm prevention order imposed by Carlisle Crown Court sought to control his internet use by stipulating that any internet enabled device he used had to be fitted with police monitoring software.

But Knowles, originally from Oxenholme in south Cumbria, was put back before the court after it emerged that he had been using a relative’s phone to access the internet.

Not details emerged in court about what he did while online but prosecutor Tim Evans said Knowles had now left Cumbria and was living in Sough in Berkshire. The barrister said there had been issues with his Probation Service work to address his offending.

The original offence, said the barrister, had involved Knowles unwittingly trying to communicate with a child sexually, though the person was in fact an under-cover decoy – either a police officer or a volunteer from a paedophile hunter group.

Recorder Samantha Presland agreed to revoke the original 24-month community order that was imposed on the defendant and replace it with a three-year order.

The Recorder told the defendant, of Tall Trees, Colnbrook, Slough: “I can’t emphasise this enough: your behaviour, circumventing a sexual harm prevention order, is extremely concerning.

“What you were originally caught doing is incredibly damaging; to solicit sexual relations with a child is a phenomenally serious offence for which you got a community order, or a suspended sentence.

“You were extremely lucky." The defendant committed his original offence in September, 2020. The sentence included 30 days of rehabilitation activity.