A CONVICTED sex offender with a fetish for boys in white socks has been jailed after admitting to breaching the terms of a suspended prison sentence.

Former East Lancashire shop worker Kristian Alexander John Kirk, 26, was first convicted of a sexual offence as a result of a 'sting operation' in 2014, Burnley Crown Court was told.

MORE TOP STORIES:

The former University of Central Lancashire policing student fell victim to self-styled Paedophile Hunter Stinson Hunter, who posed as a 14-year-old boy in an online conversation with him. The internet crusader’s intervention prompted criticism from the judiciary.

The sexually-charged chat, which eventually saw Kirk arrested and interviewed by police, involved him requesting pictures of the youngster in white socks, the court heard at the time.

For that Kirk, formerly of Oswaldtwistle but now living in Nelson, received a community order and was made subject of a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order limiting his contact with youngsters.

But he was back in the dock in 2015 for contacting a 15-year-old boy on social media. For that he was given a 26-week prison sentence, suspended for two years.

And his latest court appearance came after he breached the terms of the notification requirements attached to that suspended sentence, which stated he must tell the police if he intended to stay at a house with anyone under the age of 18..

The court was told that on November 18, last year, police visited his address in the Pennines.

Prosecutor Joseph Allman said: “They asked if he was alone. He said his girlfriend was in bed upstairs. He gave a date of birth for her which would have made her 18.

"When she appeared it transpired she was 17. He was subsequently interviewed about that and he admitted allowed his girlfriend to stay at his house overnight.”

Mr Allman said the breach could be punished by a maximum of five years imprisonment.

Kirk pleaded guilty to breaching the terms of a notification requirement and breaching a suspended prison sentence.

As well as jailing Kirk for 38 weeks, Judge Beverley Lunt ordered that he will be on the Sex Offender’s Register for 10 years.

A police spokesman said: “Sex offenders are managed by police and partners, a system which aims to prevent them from committing further offences."