Bryan Hill 40

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Sex offender Bryan Hill has been jailed after a phone call to his mum proved he had flouted a court order. The 39-year-old was convicted in 2017 of a child grooming offence which led to him being made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

But he breached the order by failing to inform police of a new phone he had. A 'keen-eyed' officer checking up on him discovered he had a secret mobile.

Despite denying that he had used the phone, records showed he had rang his mother only that morning. Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard he also breached the notification requirements of the sex offenders' register by using a new user name which had not been notified to the police.

Now Hill, who has breached the SHPO on two previous occasions, has been jailed for two years at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. Prosecutor John Oates said the SHPO was made in 2017 after Hill was convicted of a child grooming offence.

Mr Oates said: "Police attended Star Accommodation in Hanley on March 6 this year. The defendant declared a mobile phone the officers already knew about.

"But when they searched the house they found a Samsung smartphone which had not been declared. He denied using it but it was found he had been using it that very morning.

"The SHPO requires him to inform the police of any device he has.

"It was also found he had been using a new user name BH9644010. That had not been notified. He had not told the police he was using that name, which was a breach of the notification requirements."

Hill, of Marsh Street North, Hanley, pleaded guilty to breaching a SHPO and failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders' register.

Steve Hennessy, mitigating, conceded it was a concern that Hill was back in court for a further breach. He said the officer was 'extremely keen-eyed' to notice the charger plugged in was for a different mobile to the one Hill declared.

He said the Samsung was not well hidden. Mr Hennessy said: "It had been used that morning to call his mother.

"He is motivated by boredom and loneliness. He has now learned his lesson. He has had quite a conversation with his mother who said any further returns to prison and she will never speak to him again. He promises there will be no breaches in the future."

Judge David Fletcher said: "This is the third time you have breached this order.

"When you are released on licence that is the time to really prove to those who are interested in your progress that you really mean what you have said."