A man who possessed almost 200 indecent images of children has been jailed after breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Neil Webb, 25, of Bruera Road, Ellesmere Port, was sentenced to 20 months in prison at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday March 8.
Webb was previously convicted of two sexual harm breaches and of possessing and making indecent images of children at Cheshire Magistrates' Court on February 12, 2021.
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He was then sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, and made subject to the notification requirements of the Sex Offender Register and given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Detective Sergeant Keith Campbell, of Cheshire Police, said said: "As a registered sex offender, Webb was required to adhere to a number of conditions to deter him from reoffending.
"An officer allocated to monitoring him visited his home address on June 25, 2021 to ensure he was keeping to his conditions.
"Following a check of his mobile phone, she discovered it was on private browsing mode which masked his internet history - a breach of his prevention order."
The officer then checked the device, but no indecent images of children were found.
However, on further scrutiny of the phone, the officer discovered there were in excess of 350 bookmarked URLs.
These related to Category C indecent images of children.
On February 2, 2022, officers raided Webb's home and a further phone, which was not registered with the police, was seized from him.
This was found to contain 198 images indicative of indecent images of children.
DS Campbell said: "This shows the effectiveness of monitoring offenders who are subject to Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and highlights the consequences of not adhering to the conditions.
"I hope it reassures people that we do carefully monitor registered sex offenders in the community and take action when a breach is discovered."
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