A ‘PREDATORY sex offender’ who continued to breach restrictions imposed to prevent his reoffending has been jailed for three years and two months.

Jaime Stringer kept two mobile phones which had been returned to him by the police after he was last before a court for contacting youngsters when he was not allowed to.

The 20-year-old paedophile claimed he had put the handsets in a drawer and forgotten about them for 10 months.

But when officers got hold of them they found they were charged, internet enabled and had working cameras.

Now a judge has said his continued offending, which started when he was just 12, means he fears he presents a risk of causing harm to other children.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how Stringer had a string of sex convictions dating back more than seven years.

In February last year she said he was put on a suspended sentence for contacting young boys despite being banned from doing so.

At the same time a sexual harm prevention order was imposed which prevented him having camera phones and internet enabled devices unless they were known about.

Miss Hingston said last July two Sony Experia handsets were returned to him by police after being confiscated during the investigation.

Though he told his offender manager about one he kept the second one secret and was also told to have the camera disabled on the phone he used day to day. But in March this year police went to his house and found the two Sony devices which were charged and ready to use.

Stringer, of no fixed abode, admitted two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

He has been convicted of a string of sex offences starting when he was 12, the conviction coming after his birthday, and was jailed in 2017.

Emma Handslip, defending, said he had not committed any other offences for almost two-and-a-half years and assumed the police knew about the phones as they gave them back.

Jailing him Judge Jason Taylor QC said “On March 11, 2019, police attended your home address.

"Whilst there they seized two charged smart phones which you were prohibited from having by terms of your SHPO imposed in February 2018.

"You submitted a basis saying you had not purchased them recently, in fact they had been returned to you by the police after earlier investigations.

“You have a criminal history and it makes for anxious reading, five convictions for 18 offences. All sexual offences or breaches of orders. The first at the worrying age of 13, back in 2012, then at regular intervals.

“This was a very serious and persistent breach that is, and this is the crux of the case, although two phones were returned to you and you notified the supervising officer about one of them, there was one the authorities knew nothing about.

“That was internet enabled, had a camera and was charged. You had that phone for 10 months.

“You are categorised as unmanageable in the community, a high risk of harm to young children. This was a wilful breach to meet your needs. I take the view in what I have read so far that you are a danger to children.”

When he was jailed for 14 months in 2017 the court heard a probation officer had described him as a ‘predatory sex offender’.