A WORCESTER man jailed for child porn offences has pursuaded a court to lift a ban on him using the internet, after arguing that he couldn’t even look up the weather forecast.

Christopher Barber, aged 26, had previous convictions for child porn offences and was already the subject of a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) when he was caught with indecent images on his computer, along with software designed to disguise his browsing history.

Barber, of Pinkett Street, Worcester, was jailed for a year at Worcester Crown Court in August after pleading guilty to breach of a SOPO and five counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

A fresh SOPO was also imposed, which, among other things, included a strict restriction on his internet use.

Mr Justice Simon and Judge Peter Jacobs, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, amended that order after hearing arguments that it unfairly prevented him from going about innocent everyday tasks.

Lawyers for Barber told the court that the SOPO, as drafted at the crown court, “could prevent him looking up the weather forecast” and other harmless internet tasks, for fear of being handed further prison terms.

Mr Justice Simon, allowing the appeal, agreed, altering the SOPO so that Barber’s use of the internet is now unfettered, save for a requirement to allow the police to install monitoring software on his computer.

His jail term was not appealed against and remains unchanged.