A CHILD rapist who is banned for life from deleting her internet history had porn sites bookmarked on her PlayStation, a court heard.

But magistrates stopped short of jailing Alex Smith, who is in the process of transitioning from man to woman.

Smith, 26, of Beaulieu Close, Toothill, who changed her name by deed poll from Matthew Burren, admitted breaching the terms of a sexual harm prevention order made at Swindon Crown Court in 2015.

Emma Charleton, prosecuting, said the terms of that order banned Smith from deleting her internet history or using software designed to hide what websites she had visited.

Police had been made aware in May this year that Smith had attempted to log onto the internet with her web browser in “incognito” mode.

When officers visited her home they also found a PlayStation 4 games console. There was no internet history saved on the device, but a number of pornographic websites bookmarked, indicating that the browsing history had been deleted or otherwise not saved.

Smith admitted she had been looking at pornographic websites but could not be sure the images she was looking at were illegal.

The SHPO was made in 2015, after Smith – then known as Matthew Burren – was caught with prohibited images of children a second time and had been contacting children online.

As a 12-year-old, she served time for a sickening sex attack on a five-year-old boy. In 2011, she was given a community order after being found with sexualised drawings of youngsters.

Defending, Philip Hall said Smith had deleted her PS4’s internet history for the simple reason that the browser’s history was full. His client had a “fascination with Japanese animations” which some might regard as pornographic, but which would not give rise to a criminal charge.

He said a probation report had painted a “most bleak vista” of Smith’s existence: “There is little positive in Miss Smith’s life. Other things being equal she will keep herself out of harm’s way – out of everyone else’s way save when required [by the authorities].”

Smith had a severe stutter, suffered from Asperger’s syndrome and “couldn’t possibly do any kind of physical grooming” of children. She had sought assistance from mental health charity Mind.

Magistrates sentenced Smith to a two year community order with 30 rehabilitation days, ordering she pay £85 costs and a £90 victim surcharge.

Hatty Stafford-Charles, chairman of the bench, said: “You now certainly know a bit of deleting because you’ve run out of room is not acceptable and the police are going to bring you in.”