AN ANDOVER man has been given another chance for breaching his sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) once again.
As previously reported, Callum Lee Bates, 25, from Andover, was charged with making unauthorised contact with persons via the messaging tool Discord.
Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) social platform.
On Discord, users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called 'servers'.
READ MORE: Callum Lee Bates avoids prison after again after breaching order
Bates was first given a five-year SHPO in April 2018, and he was prohibited from unsupervised contact with any male child under the age of 16.
However, he breached this order in 2020 and was later given a three-year community order in February 2021.
The latest incident happened on Sunday, January 14, this year, when Bates changed his username on the same platform.
Bates pleaded guilty to this offence on Wednesday, February 14 at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court.
He appeared at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, March 15 to be sentenced.
In mitigation Lucy Conroy told the court that while the latest incident does not help his case, he is not 'a man who fits the mould of someone for an offence of this type'.
She told the court he had not been creating usernames to talk to children.
She said: "He appears to have been the one who brought it to the attention of the officer in his case.
"These technical breaches that keep cropping up means the way in which he approaches problems, in this case online bullying, is not the way his order allows him to do."
Ms Conroy told the court he uses the platform to reach out to friends.
"He was playing and he got a number of messages from someone who had tracked his IP address and worked out who he was."
The court heard he received a number of messages from that person.
She continued: "He accepts he changed his username because it was a way to change his name to stop the bullying."
Prosecutor Tom Right said Bates said: "He has a history of similar breaches on his record, his record almost entirely comprises of breaches of the sexual harm prevention order."
Bates was ordered to comply with an 18-month community order including 13 rehabilitation days.
SEE ALSO: Andover paedophile Bates pleads guilty to breaching order
In his sentencing Judge Timothy Mousley KC said: "This breach is not a serious one and it would not result in you going to prison. You have got a lot of similar offences and if you do it again there is a good chance the court will get fed up with you and send you inside."
Judge Mousley told Bates that he must listen to people around him.
He added: "If you are not sure if you are doing anything wrong then you should ask someone who can advice you about that."
He told Bates not to try and work it out on his own as this results in more trouble.
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