A FORMER teaching assistant who was jailed for attempting to groom a pupil online was back in court after deleting dating apps from his phone.

Blackburn magistrates heard Matthew Settle had deleted the apps because he was embarrassed about his viewing of a gay dating site.

But his embarrassment led to his arrest by officers from the sexual offences management unit within days of him returning from six months abroad.

Settle, 29, of Granville Gardens, Accrington, pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual harm prevention order. He was remanded on bail until November 13 for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Parveen Akhtar, prosecuting, said the sexual harm prevention order was imposed by Bolton Crown Court in 2015, when he was jailed for possessing indecent images and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Settle had been out of the country for six months – but police carried out a compliance visit when he returned.

He made his phone available to the officers who spotted that he had been using Tinder and Grindr.

“He said he had deleted them the day before the visit because he was embarrassed about the content,” said Miss Akhtar.

Paul Huxley, defending, said his client was aware it was a serious matter but it was not a sinister one.

“By deleting the apps he deleted the search history and that is what concerned the police,” said Mr Huxley.

He said when Settle returned from working in Greece for the summer season he reported to the police as required and registered his mobile phone.

“When they looked through his photo gallery they found a screen shot of a male from Grinder,” said Mr Huxley. “That alerted the police to the fact he had used the app.”