A PAEDOPHILE who was jailed for sharing “revolting” child abuse images was hauled back before a judge after breaching an order monitoring his use of electronic devices.

Father-of-three John Baker, 44, was jailed for two years in 2017 after he was found to have possessed and distributed indecent images of children.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard some of the “troubling” images involved the abuse of babies.

He was also made the subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order, which monitors and restricts his use of electronic devices.

He was hauled back into court on Wednesday after admitting to breaching that order by restoring one of his phones to factory settings in Colchester.

Such a move is prohibited under the order as it also deletes his internet history.

Baker, of no fixed address, admitted one count of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Alex Davidson, mitigating, said while Baker’s prior crimes were “revolting”, he had “maintained all along” his plan was to reset his old iPhone in order to gift it to his daughter.

He said: “This is not a man who has been regularly and habitually hiding what he does with his devices, he has been to his credit very candid.”

He also criticised the delay in sentencing his client.

He said: “His life has been on hold for the last ten months, he’s on new anti-depressants due to the anxiety of waiting to be sentenced and the drinking that’s going on is linked to that.”

Judge David Turner QC said he was “broadly inclined” to accept Baker’s excuse for restoring the phone to factory settings.

“From the word go you offered the explanation you were planning to give this phone to your daughter, you’d got a new phone yourself,” he said.

He said Baker had otherwise complied well with the order and noted he was the one who raised the factory reset with his monitoring officer.

But he called the offence “entirely avoidable”, adding: “You must have known you were doing something with a phone you shouldn’t have been doing.”

Baker was hit with an 18-month community order, consisting of a 40-day rehabilitation activity requirement and a £150 fine.