A convicted sex offender from Nelson who breached his registration requirements when he travelled to Ukraine to fight in the war against Russia has been jailed.
Aaron McGinty failed to inform the police when he obtained a passport that he was travelling abroad and then failed to register with the police again when he returned to the UK.
McGinty, 39, of Marsden Hall Road, pleaded guilty to three charges of failing to comply with requirements and breach of a restraining order at Blackburn Magistrates' Court in December and appeared at Burnley Crown Court to be sentenced on Tuesday (February 17).
The previous hearing at the magistrates' court heard the beneficiary of the restraining order was the defendant's ex-partner, who was still receiving messages and friend requests from him while he was in Ukraine.
In one message, he said: "It's made my blood thirsty being over here in Ukraine.
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"I will come for you and all the members of your family."
John Rusius, defending McGinty at the lower court, said the defendant "didn't want to live" when released from prison in 2024 and "decided to take himself out to Ukraine and fight in the war."
Mr Rusius said that for the last five days of his time in Ukraine, McGinty had sat in a trench with the body of his friend waiting for a chance to escape.
When he appeared for sentencing at the Crown Court, Recorder Alex Leach sentenced McGinty to 18 months in prison.
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