A CONVICTED sex offender who was found to have text and met up with an underage girl has been given a second suspended sentence.

Preston Crown Court heard how 19-year-old Dylan Ram was given the original suspended sentence order in December 2016 after pleading guilty to engaging in sexual activity with a child.

For that offence, which happened in October 2016 and involved a 14-year-old girl, Ram was sentenced to 12 months in a young offenders’ institution, suspended for two years.

He was also made subject of a two-year sexual harm prevention order, limiting his contact with girls under the age of 16, and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Prosecuting, David Clarke said as part of the order Ram was prohibited from having any contact or communication with a female under the age of 16, unless with the express permission of their parent or guardian or social services. He must also have made them aware of his conviction in advance.

Mr Clarke said: “On November 7, 2017, police from the monitoring department completed a standard compliance visit on the defendant. During that visit they discovered the defendant had been in contact with a girl under the age of 16 over his mobile phone. She was subsequently contacted.”

When police spoke to the 15-year-old victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, she told them she was completely unaware of Ram’s conviction or the sexual harm prevention order. She said their contact was mainly through Facebook and he had asked her to meet him on three or four occasions. On one occasion he met up with the girl and a group of her friends to watch a film.

When officers examined Ram’s mobile phone they also found a photograph of the defendant with a child. Mr Clarke said there was nothing indecent or untoward about the photograph but Ram had not made the child’s parents aware of his conviction before it was taken.

Ram, of Walmsley Street, Great Harwood, pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching the terms of a sexual harm prevention order and one of committing a further offence during the operational period of a suspended sentence.

Defending, Marianne Alton said: “Mr Ram knows he find himself in a precarious position. My submission is it would be better for him to continue the rehabilitative process within the community that it would be to disrupt this process by sending him to prison.”

Judge Jonathan Gibson sentence Ram to four months imprisonment, but suspended it for 18 months. He must also do 40 hours unpaid work, undertake a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement and complete a sexual offender’s treatment programme.

Judge Gibson said: “You are still a young man and it seems to me it is important that this work is done and you engage with it fully and properly so your risk of reoffending is reduced.”