A SEX offender who was found with indecent images of children on a number of electronic devices has been spared jail.

Burnley Crown Court heard how 30-year-old Graham Pilkington was also found to have deleted his internet history within weeks of being given a sexual harm prevention order banning him from doing so.

Those offences put Pilkington, in breach of a suspended prison sentence he was given in April for sending an undercover police officer a video of him performing a sex act on himself and asking him to show it to his two fictional daughters who he thought were aged five and eight.

Prosecuting, Claire Lawton said Pilkington's latest offences were discovered on June 22 when police went to his house to carry out a random check as part of his order.

Officers found a number of devices capable of accessing the internet and found that the browser history had been deleted from an i-Phone. Police seized a number of items, including an i-Pad, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, a laptop, SD Cards, and a computer tablet.

On three of those devices police found 38 indecent images of children.

The court heard that police checked 11 of those images for the date they were downloaded and found that Pilkington had done so before his April conviction, meaning that he was not in breach of his sexual harm prevention order.

Ms Lawton said: "When challenged about deleting his internet history he said he might have deleted some. He argued there hadn't been anything illegal on it. He did apologise."

Pilkington pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs of children, possessing a prohibited image of a child, breaching a sexual harm prevention order and breaching a suspended sentence order.

Defending, Isobel Thomas said her client had spent two months in prison after being arrested in June and said he now had insight of what it would be like if he breached the court order again.

Ms Thomas said: "It was his first time in custody and not an easy experience. He now understands what will happen if he breaches this order again.

"The defendant would very much appreciate the assistance and input from the probation service. He has always accepted this is a problem and he really wants help to address this problem."

Warning Pilkington that any further breaches would result in a prison sentence, Judge Jonathan Gibson sentenced him to six months imprisonment but suspended it for two years. Pilkington was also made subject of a four-week curfew and told to attend sexual offender's treatment programme.