PAEDOPHILE Callum Lee Bates is set to be sentenced later this week - after two previous postponements.

Callum Lee Bates, from Andover, will appear at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday, February 4, to be sentenced after he admitted to breaching his sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

Bates was banned from having contact with children by Winchester Crown Court in April 2018 after pleading guilty to sexual grooming.

The 21-year-old, who was 18 at the time, tried to meet a nine-year-old boy at a train station on January 2 2018, but was caught by a ‘paedophile hunting’ group, posing as the young boy.

He was issued with a SHPO, however Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court heard on December 7 that conversation then took place between Bates and a boy who stated he was thirteen years old on the dating app Grindr - amounting to a breach of the order.

The case was sent to Winchester for sentencing in January, after District Judge Tim Pattinson said that it would be appropriate for the court which gave the order to have a say in the sentence, adding: “This court’s sentencing powers may well not be sufficient in this case.”

However, in January, it was postponed again amid concerns for Bates’ mental health. Judge Susan Evans QC felt more time was needed to consider all background medical information.

Bates remains on unconditional bail ahead of the sentencing.