A SEX offender was caught with an unregistered iPhone when police visited his house, a court heard.

Christopher Wear, 34, was convicted of making and possessing indecent images of children in August 2017 and given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Under the order, Wear was banned from owning any internet enabled device unless it was registered with the police and had monitoring software installed on it.

An officer explained this to Wear shortly after the order was made and informed him he could not have an iPhone as the software was not compatible, the court heard.

But on February 12 2020, Wear’s offender manager visited him at his home in Barrow and asked him to produce all his electronic devices.

He handed over two laptops, which were fitted with the software, and after stalling briefly, produced an iPhone X.

The phone had a number of social media apps installed, including Facebook and WhatsApp, which Wear was also banned from using under the terms of his order.

He admitted he had been using Facebook, although there was no evidence of any illegal activity on the device.

Preston Crown Court heard Wear had been working as a BMW technician which involved fitting sat navs to vehicles, using a mobile phone app to sync the equipment.

He had used his phone partly to do his job although he also made use of the social media available on it, the court heard.

He pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Recorder Richard Gioserano, sentencing, said: “I think you knew all along that you shouldn’t have had this iPhone.

“You can have a device as long as it is equipped with the monitoring software.

“Having said that there is no evidence you have used it to view any child pornography or to contact children or enter chat rooms where paedophiles are present.

“There is nothing of that kind nor is there any evidence of any cleaning software on this iPhone so I have got to give you the benefit of the doubt that while you shouldn’t have it, it wasn’t used for any illegal purposes.

“However there is still a risk that if you have an internet enabled device without monitoring software on it you might find yourself straying.”

The judge handed Wear, now of Longwood Avenue, Waterlooville, an 18 month community order with 20 days rehabilitation requirement and 120 hours of unpaid work.

He also confiscated the phone.