An Ilminster sex offender who was caught using a secret internet browser on his games console which hid his online activities has been fined £184 by the courts.

Gawan Jake Newton said it had been a “lapse” when he used a Google search for “Tor Browser”, an internet download which enabled any browsing history to be immediately deleted after use.

When police turned up at his address for an unannounced visit they took some of his hardware devices and found he had downloaded the browser which he claimed he had done to get around a region lock and “did not think about it” at the time.

His solicitor Greg Peters previously told Somerset Magistrates that it was a “blip” which had not been pre-planned or installed for any malicious purposes.

However the bench said they did not believe the defendant’s explanation saying they found it had been “deliberate behaviour”.

Newton, 26, of Court Barton, Ilminster , pleaded guilty that on October 22 last year at Ilminster he did something, namely used a device that did not record and deleted his internet browsing history that he was prohibited from doing by a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) made by Taunton Magistrates on May 29, 2012.

Prosecutor Emma Lenanton said that Newton was convicted of sexual offences in May 2012 and made subject to a SOPO which ordered him to comply with a whole raft of restrictions and notification requirements.

This included him being prohibited from using any device that is capable of accessing the internet unless it displays the browsing history use.

“On the day in question a police officer attended the defendant’s home address to do an unannounced visit and he was asked to surrender hard drives from his gaming PC that gives him access to the internet along with a memory card,” she said.

“Examination of these revealed that on a certain date he had performed a Google search for Tor Browser and then went to the downloads page and downloaded the browser package.

“This constitutes a breach of the SOPO because the browser operates that as soon as you stop using the device, it deletes your history”.

Mr Peters said that Newton was extremely candid during interview and said he had done everything he could to abide by the terms of the order but admitted this had been “a lapse”.

He added that no indecent images or anything untoward was found on any of the other drives and said it was a split second thought which Newton did without thinking.

When the defendant appeared back before the court to be sentenced they imposed the fine and also ordered him to pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge which he was ordered to pay at the rate of £20 a month.

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