A REGISTERED child sex offender has been locked up for using the internet to talk to an under 16-year-old girl in breach of his court orders.

Essex Police was carrying out a visit to registered sex offender Dean Briggs last month when officers discovered he was no longer living at the address on record for him, a breach of the notification requirements of being on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

Briggs, 51, had moved to a new address in Ashburnham Road, Southend.

When officers attended found Briggs appearing to be trying to delete things from his mobile phone.

Briggs had been convicted of child sex offences in November last year and, as a result had been put on the Sex Offenders’ Register and made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

The SHPO prevented Briggs from having any unsupervised contact or communication with a girl under the age of 16, possessing undeclared devices with internet connections or using social media.

The quick-thinking officers took the phone from him ensuring he wasn’t able to delete potential evidence.

He had been using a messaging app which they believed he was using to chat a girl – a breach of the SHPO.

Officers also found Briggs had several devices capable of accessing the internet which he hadn’t told police about.

He was charged with three counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and one count of failing to comply with the notification requirements of the Sex Offenders’ Register.

On October 29 – just two days after his arrest - he admitted the offences at Basildon Crown Court.

At the same court on Friday, November 26 he was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.

Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Paul Ross, from the MOSOVO team in the south of the county, said:

“Dean Briggs was subject to strict orders which are in place to protect children from him.

“He tried to get around those prohibitions and thought that he wouldn’t be caught.

“He was very wrong.”

Detective Inspector Rob Brettell, who leads the Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders team in the south of the county, said: “In the majority of cases, the people we manage go about their lives without creating any additional risk to the public.

“And because we carry out proactive checks, on the small number of occasions where someone isn’t adhering to the terms of their release, we’re there to ensure the public don’t come to harm.”