A MAN who wiped his phone history after messaging children as young as 11 and 12-years-old has been found in breach of a sexual risk order.

Dontae Justin, 22, had been banned from contacting any child under the age of 16 unless he had permission to do so by their parent or guardian.

He had previously been handed a three year community order as well as a sexual harm prevention order.

But Chelmsford Crown Court heard Justin, of Goodmayes Avenue, Ilford, had waved to two young boys in Colchester town centre in October 2019 before he started talking to them.

Justin exchanged phone numbers with one of the boys and began messaging them on Snapchat before then claiming he was a relative.

At one stage, Justin also initiated a factory reset on his mobile phone, which he was not allowed to do under the sexual risk order he had been served three years ago.

David Tremain, prosecuting, said the repercussions could have been far more severe had one of the boys’ fathers not reported the activity.

He said: “The children Justin was contacting were young – 12 and 11-years-old.

“There was a risk of serious, if not very serious harm, but it was nipped in the bud quickly.”

Justin admitted breaching the terms of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Gavin Burrell, mitigating, said Justin was attending the rehabilitation sessions required of him and was consulting psychologists twice a week.

He also added Justin’s communication, although “quirky,” was not sexual and instead suggested a want for a familial relationship with the child.

Sentencing Justin, Judge Mary Loram said: “Any adult trying to communicate with a child should be treated at the very least suspicious. There is the factory reset of your phone and there is contact with a 12-year-old boy.

“Depending on how you look at it, it could either be taken as sinister, or a man who, on the borderline of having a learning disability, is communicating in a way he knows he shouldn’t.”

Justin was sentenced to a 18 month community order, 25 days of rehabilitation activity, and 120 hours of unpaid work.

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