A sex offender has been returned to jail after flouting a court order and hiding evidence from the police.

Alan Richardson, aged 50, was banned by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order from keeping undeclared internet-capable devices or deleting his browsing history. Believing he may have committed additional offences online, officers visited Richardson's home in Stapleford on 18 June last year.

After a lengthy delay, he eventually opened the door to let the officers in – but not before performing a factory reset on his tablet. As well as unearthing that deceit, a police digital forensics officer also discovered that a specialist anonymised search engine was previously active on the same device.

Richardson, who was previously jailed for making indecent images of children, later admitted to two counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order. Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday 31 March he was jailed for two years.