*** Friday, March 2, 2012: Mr Adlam's conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal on December 14, 2011 ***

A father-of-two banned from most internet sites has been jailed for using Facebook and online dating services.

Mitcham man James Adlam, who has previous convictions for downloading child pornography, was handed a 10-month prison sentence on Tuesday.

Judge Fergus Mitchell said he had “flouted” a sexual offences prevention order (Sopo) imposed in 2010 after he was caught viewing indecent images, which banned the former journalist from using the internet for anything other than work or study.

The judge at Kingston Crown Court described Adlam’s sentence for his original crime, which included the order and behaviour management courses but no jail term, as “extremely lenient” – and claimed he was lucky not to have been imprisoned last year.

Referring to the breaches, Judge Mitchell said: “If these orders are to have any teeth, if they are broken they must be met with punishment.”

The court heard since last August Adlam had bought a laptop, created a Facebook account and communicated with adults using a dating website.

He had also viewed internet pornography featuring adults – but a police search of the computer found no evidence he had contacted children or viewed illegal images.

His actions were discovered by his family, and on January 31 this year Adlam – a 39-year-old from London Road with children aged four and seven – turned himself in to police.

Charlie Durrant, defending, said: “The actual behaviour would not have been illegal had it not been for the Sopo.

“There can be no suggestion he has fallen into any sort of behaviour that mirrors the original reasons for the order.

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