Convicted sex offender told Preston Crown Court judge he turned to porn because he 'had no friends'

But by doing so Jordan Wilkinson breached a court order banning him from accessing sex sites, Judge Simon Medland was told.

The 34-year-old was spared prison after he installed various VPN (virtual private network) sites which hide a user’s IP address and encrypt internet traffic.

He was caught out when police called on him at home to carry out checks on his devices to see if he was complying with a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order made by Burnley Crown Court in July 2021 following his conviction for sex offences.

Judge Medland sitting at Preston Crown Court decided to impose a community order for 12 months and fined Wilkinson £1,000 with £200 costs.

He told him: “There is no evidence you used your access to get to any unlawful pornography.”

Barrister Ellie McManus, prosecuting, told the court that Wilkinson had been convicted of five sex offences in 2021 and the Sexual Harm Prevention Order was imposed by a judge prohibiting him from using or installing any private networks on his devices.

But in September 2023 a police officer making a compliance visit looked at a mobile phone which Wilkinson admitted he had been using since July 2021.

Examination of the phone showed it had installed and uninstalled VPNs on at least 13 occasions. It showed that there had been 173 uses of the various VPNs between August 2022 and September 2023.

When interviewed Wilkinson admitted he had used it for watching pornography.

The court heard the sex offences he had been convicted of in 2021 included attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child to look at an image of sexual activity and possessing an extreme pornographic image.

When he appeared before Burnley Crown Court in 2021 Judge Sara Dodd gave him an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years, admitting she had been “on a knife edge” about sending him to prison.

Wilkinson, of Peel Road, Colne, was captured on a sting by a member of a paedophile vigilante group posing as a 14-year-old girl online.

His barrister said Wilkinson had not used the phone to look at anything to do with children.

He was currently being assessed for a number of conditions including OCD, ADHD and autism. He had also suffered from anxiety and depression.

“People who have these issues often present as lonely individuals and that, in effect, is Mr Wilkinson,” said Miss Keogh.

“He doesn’t socialise, he works. He doesn’t have friends and that’s why he turned to the internet initially and why he committed this breach.”

Judge Medland said this was his first breach and had come two years into the Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

“Essentially you were very much in the business of putting all these sort of things behind you and leading a very constructive life. (But) you fell very short of that on this occasion.”

He ordered Wilkinson to complete 15 rehabilitation requirement days as part of the suspended sentence.

Judge Medland added that the 10-year order remains in place and warned that any further breach could be punishable by up to five years in prison.