A SEX offender who had a sickening collection of pictures containing children has been told he cannot delete his internet history.

Joshua Barber was caught with 101 indecent images of a child when police officers scanned a device belonging to him.

The images that Barber, of Travers Road, Colchester, possessed on June 21 last year spanned from Category A to Category C in nature.

The 22-year-old admitted three counts of possessing indecent images of children when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

He was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same time period.

As part of this order, magistrates stated Barber cannot possess any device capable of accessing the internet unless it has the capacity to retain and display its browser history.

He also cannot delete any application on a device without the written permission of the chief constable of the police force in Colchester.

He must also undertake 26 days of an accredited programme, 15 days of a rehabilitation activity and 140 hours of unpaid work within the next year.