Andrew Britton

Andrew Britton, of St Johns Road, appeared before Yeovil Magistrates' Court charged with breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). The 44-year-old had previously been convicted at a court in February 2021 of four offences of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child. Following that conviction, he was handed a suspended prison sentence and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years, with a strict SHPO prohibiting him from downloading any online messaging applications or deleting any internet history.

However, between July and December last year, Britton was found to have installed and used several messaging apps, breaching the terms of his order. During a routine home visit by his police offender manager on 10 December, he was asked to provide his mobile phones. Checks revealed that he had been communicating with a female and another adult user on the banned platforms, and that he had uninstalled an app—a direct violation of the SHPO. He had also deleted messages, including a conversation referencing a video he allegedly sent, though no footage was recovered.

Prosecutor Jenna Morgan outlined the facts to the magistrates: "During the two previous visits it was established he had [an app installed], and he was also found to have been in communication with the same person on [a different app]." She added that Britton had admitted uninstalling the app and deleting messages, both prohibited activities under his order.

Britton pleaded guilty to three breaches of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order, relating to deleting an app and deleting messages from other apps between July and December last year. The bench adjourned the case until 6 July for a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the Probation Service. He was released on unconditional bail until that date. No further sentencing details were available at the time of reporting.