A serial child sex offender is back behind bars for breaching a strict court order by deleting hundreds of X-rated photos and videos.
Francis Burns was caught out by monitoring software installed on his phone after his release from prison in 2023.
The father-of-three was jailed for sending nude photos and videos to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
The youngster was in fact a member of a paedophile hunter group, who turned up at his door in Dundee and taunted him with a cucumber – a reference to his vile discussions about vegetables with the decoy.
Burns, 52, who was previously jailed in 2017, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted breaching his Sex Offences Prevention Order at his home in Kinloch Court, Blairgowrie, in April last year.
The order states – among other restrictions – he cannot delete files from his phone without first getting permission from police.
The court heard he had been chatting with adult women on Facebook but had deleted some of the chats when they began asking him for money.
Monitored
Fiscal depute Duncan MacKenzie said: “The accused was convicted at Dundee Sheriff Court in July 2017.
“This related to sexually explicit conversations with four different females – three of whom were 10, and the other was 12.”
Burns was jailed for two years and made subject to a 12-month extended sentence.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
“The accused was monitored by the sex offender policing unit,” the prosecutor said.
Following his conviction, a full Sex Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) was granted at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2020.
Mr MacKenzie said: “On December 18 2023, remote monitoring software was installed on the accused’s mobile phone by police.
“In April 2024, police were made aware by this software that the accused had accessed his phone’s recycling bin.
“There were a number of sexually explicit images contained within.
“The software captured 50 screenshots of sexual communications between the accused and other females on the Facebook Messenger app.”
The fiscal depute said: “Police attended at his address and the phone was examined.
“The accused said he had only moved the photos there, so they would be safe from other people seeing them.”
The phone was seized and Burns was taken into custody.
‘No alternative’ to prison
Cybercrime officers analysed the device and found multiple Facebook conversations through April 2024, some of which were in the trash bin.
“There were 234 deleted images and 48 deleted videos, mostly featuring adult pornography,” Mr MacKenzie said.
Solicitor Anika Jethwa told the court her client had been on remand for the last 10 months.
“The SOPO is due to last until October 21 2025 but in light of this conviction, I expect it will be extended to a longer period.”
She accepted Burns’ record was “extremely poor”.
His sex offending began after his marriage of 10 years collapsed in 2006.
“He was spending a great deal of time on his own, pretty much isolated,” she said.
“Unfortunately, he became involved in this type of offending.”
Ms Jethwa said: “He was clearly engaging in conversation with a number of females and he has deleted some of these messages.
“Some were asking for money in these conversations but he was well aware of his responsibilities in terms of this order.”
Ms Jethwa said Burns’ health had deteriorated while in prison and he suffers from depression and anxiety.
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC said: “The later convictions in your record of offending cause me considerable concern, particularly those that are analogous.
“The prison sentence imposed as a result of those offences appear to have done nothing to deter you from further breaches.”
Burns was jailed for 42 weeks.
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