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David Huntley

Paedophile hauled back in front of judge for creating 'false name' on Sunderland football forum

A paedophile has been hauled back in front of a judge for creating a false name on a football forum and deleting his internet history.

James McGuire was given a suspended sentence in January last year after being found in possession of indecent images of children and extreme porn. The 40-year-old was also put on the sex offenders register for 10 years and was made subject of a sexual harm prevention order, meaning he must abide by certain conditions including not deleting any internet browsing history.

But on Thursday, McGuire, of Eglington Tower, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, appeared back at Newcastle Crown Court after breaching the sexual harm prevention order and failing to comply with notification requirements between January 11 and March 21, last year.

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Kevin Wardlaw, prosecuting, said McGuire's breaches came to light when police officers carried out a routine check of his mobile phone. He said: "They discovered the defendant had deleted his entire internet history from that device. The failing to comply offences relate to two pseudonyms." Mr Wardlaw said McGuire also used "false names" online, one of which was on a football forum and another on an Instagram account.

The court heard that nothing illegal had been deleted by McGuire and he said he had been accessing adult pornography on his mobile and deleted the history to prevent his daughter from seeing it.

In mitigation, the court was told that McGuire had been accessing a Sunderland football club forum under the name "Jimmy Riddle". Mr Pickford, defending, said: "On these forums you're encouraged to use usernames rather than actual names. The last post he put on (the forum) was about Metro disruptions." He added that McGuire was a "hard working man" who had been "ostracised" by members of his family since his conviction and used a different name on Instagram so that he could stay informed about his daughter.

Recorder Paul Reid said McGuire had a conviction for "very unpleasant offences" and sentenced him to 10 months prison, suspended for 18 months.

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