Bo'ness sex offender deleted software monitoring his Internet use

Alan Monteith, 34, deleted the application which kept a check on the sites he accessed on the Internet in the early hours of the morning and then – smelling strongly of alcohol – that evening he took his phone to police for it to be looked at.

He was made subject to a sexual offence prevention order (SOPO) due to previous offending of a sexual nature.

A SOPO can be requested by the police, or court, when there is a specific concern about an individual. This court order will be requested to prevent a person from engaging in a particular activity – whether it be physically restricting access to locations out in the community or preventing access to sites online.

Appearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court last Thursday, Monteith had pleaded guilty to breaching the terms of his sexual offences prevention order – which was put in place on August 31 last year – at this 137 North Street, Bo’ness home on March 14 this year.

The charge stated Monteith deleted the remote monitoring software on his mobile phone device.

Procurator fiscal depute Eilidh Smith said: “The accused has remote monitoring software fitted to his mobile phone as part of his sexual offences prevention order conditions.

"The device is connected to the internet and the software will activate. On March 14 the activation stopped at 5.15am. At 6.55pm he contacted police and made mention of having deleted an application on his mobile phone that related to his order status.

"He had been drinking alcohol and police could smell alcohol from him. He attended at the police station and they carried out forensics on hos phone. There was no trace of the application – it had been completely deleted.”

Lynn Swan, defence solicitor, said: “He provided an explanation on the deletion of the software – he was the one who called the police about it.”

Sheriff Christopher Shead ordered Monteith to complete 200 hours of unpaid work within 12 months.