A SEX offender pensioner has been up before the magistrates after failing to tell police about two mobile phones and a computer.

Peter Swinburne admitted breaching the terms of his sexual harm prevention order when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

The 82-year-old had been made subject to the order, which requires him to notify police of items capable of accessing the internet in his possession by Worcester Crown Court in 2018, prosecutor Melanie Winterflood said.

But, when his offender manager visited his home on August 20, they found he had two undeclared mobile phones and a computer.

Swinburne said one of the phones had been sent by his son and was too complicated for him to use and that the other had been sent by his daughter and had also not been used. He said he had bought the computer to replace his old one but had not used that either, as he was waiting for his son to set it up for him.

"It was not plugged in and the cables were still wrapped in plastic," Miss Winterflood said.

"There were some sketchy recollections as to when these items had been bought and who by, but he accepted in interview that he should have told police."

OTHER NEWS:

Charlotte Gregory, for Swinburne, said he had been open and frank with police.

"There was no suggestion that he had been trying to hide these devices," she said.

"They were out in the open being charged when police went to his home, and I would ask you to consider that it was ignorance and forgetfulness. There was nothing of concern on the phones and the computer had not been plugged in.

"It was a mix of being a Luddite and elderly. He new he had to tell police about his devices, but he did not realise that meant every single device. He thought that as they knew he had one phone, that was all he needed to tell them about."

The court heard that Swinburne's family members had given him the phones in order to allow him to video call them during Covid.

Swinburne, of Laskett Lane, Much Birch, was fined £500 and must pay costs of £135 and a £50 victim surcharge.