A convicted paedophile found a mobile phone he’d failed to disclose to police just 10 minutes before his supervising officer arrived at his front door.

Robert Miller, 52, was handed a sexual harm prevention order last year after he admitted having indecent images of children. The order required him to register any digital device with the police.

On Thursday, the Banbury man told Judge Ian Pringle QC that he had found the old Sony Experia smartphone ‘10 minutes before’ his Thames Valley Police offender manager turned up at his front door.

“I was just about to ring her up to tell her about it and she knocked on the door,” he said.

Judge Pringle said: “Only 10 minutes before? That’s a coincidence, isn’t it.” Miller corrected himself: “It might have been a bit before.”

“Would it be the first thing to say to her, ‘you better have this phone, I’ve found it in the back of the drawer’? You didn’t say that to her, did you?” the judge asked. The defendant, who was representing himself at Oxford Crown Court, confirmed he hadn’t.

Sentencing Miller to a two year community order with up to 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days, Judge Pringle said: “It’s accepted this phone didn’t have any material on it, which certainly would have meant I would have imposed this 16 month prison sentence.

“Because this phone seems to be something you overlooked, which seems to be something accepted [by the Crown Prosecution Service], I’m not going to pass a prison sentence.

“I want you to be clear about one thing, Mr Miller. If you are found in possession of any device of any nature whether it’s got [illegal] material on it or not, you are going to go to prison if you come before this court again.

“Do you have any devices in your possession which the authorities do not know about?”

Miller replied: “No.”

The defendant, of Arbury Close, Banbury, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to a single charge of breaching his sexual harm prevention order by being in possession of the mobile phone on January 11, 2021.

The 16 month suspended jail sentence imposed last year remains in force. Miller was ordered to pay £425 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Breaching a sexual harm prevention order carries a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment when the case is tried at the crown court. However, sentences can vary widely depending on the seriousness of the breach.

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