A SEX offender has been jailed after deleting internet history and misleading police over SD cards.

Simon Patrick Boon admitted breaching the terms of a sexual harm prevention order and committing a further offence while subject to a suspended sentence when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

The order bans Boon from deleting internet history and requires him to inform police within three days of acquiring a device capable of storing images.

Police had called Boon to tell him they were outside his Leominster home for a routine visit at 10.30am on September 29, prosecutor Mark Hambling said.

Officers said Boon took longer than normal to open the door and looked flustered when he let them in, rousing their suspicions.

Boon was asked if he had any devices capable of storing pictures and examination of his mobile phone revealed gaps in its internet history, while an SD card and adapter was found beneath the duvet on his unmade bed.

Further SD card adaptors and a flash drive were found in a laundry powder box.

Boon was arrested and taken into custody, where he told officers in interview that he knew he was not allowed to delete history and that he was not sure why he had chosen to do so.

He admitted that he was the owner of the cards and that he had misled police as to their existence and that he should have made them aware of them.

Edmund Middleton, for Boon, said there was no evidence that anyone had been caused harm or distress by the 41-year-old's actions, and that his previous conviction had caused difficulties for him.

"He had been in gainful employment and in accommodation and was showing signs of turning around from this issue," Mr Middleton said.

But, he said, Boon was then prosecuted for matters concerning images on devices returned to him by his mother.

"There was no evidence he had looked at them," he said.

"Those matters were then prosecuted a year after the offence, and it was hoped that he would be able to keep that job, but he lost it and spent far too much time by himself with devices for comfort, and finds himself here before the court today.

"This is a problem that has affected him for a long time and it is unfortunate that mistakes keep being made, but he has always pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity."

Magistrates said Boon, of Broad Street, Leominster, had deliberately and purposefully breached the terms of his order, jailed him for 26 weeks, and activated his six-month suspended sentence, to be served consecutively. He must also pay a £128 victim surcharge.