Sex offender given jail warning after deleting 'adult-themed games' from laptop in breach of court order

Mark Stedham, 51, uninstalled files on his Hewlett Packard device to free up space, South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard.

But his actions prevented police seeing what Stedham, of Barmston Centre, Barmston, had been watching.

Stedham pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual harm prevention order - and has been warned he could be jailed when later sentenced.

He was made subject to the order and an eight-month suspended sentence after his conviction on indecent child images charges in June 2017 at Newcastle Crown Court.

Stedham was convicted of three counts of making an indecent photo or pseudo-photo of a child and one each of possession of an indecent image of a child and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

Prosecutor Lillian Yanes Hellevik said: “One provision of the order was that he was prohibited from deleting his internet history on a device capable of accessing the internet or instructing anyone else to do so.

“There’s been an examination of a Hewlett Packard laptop where files that have been downloaded from the internet are shown to have been deleted.

“When interviewed, he gave no comment. There has been a deliberate breach of the order.

“The defendant is clearly aware of the terms of the order, he’s been subject to it for five years.

“There is some risk of harm, given the nature of that breach. We don’t know what files were deleted.”

Ritchie Rodger, defending, said: “I’ve had a very frank discussion with the defendant this morning, to try to get to the bottom of what he’s done.

“What he says he’s done, and he could have said anything, is that he was downloading adult-themed games, and was downloading dozens of them.

“Because his laptop didn’t have room to store them all, he uninstalled, or in effect, deleted. They come in files.”

Magistrates ordered an all-options report into parent carer Stedham’s offence, meaning he could be jailed.

He was granted unconditional bail to be sentenced at the same court on Tuesday, June 7.