A YORK man has been banned from contacting boys under 16 in England because he committed a sexual offence many years ago in Ireland.

It was the second time Michael Dunn, 68, of Lawrence Street, had been convicted of a sexual offence.

He did not contest the making of the sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) by York magistrates.

Nor did he object when Emma Richards, for North Yorkshire Police, applied for him to go on the sex offenders' register for nearly ten years.

She told York magistrates that on February 3, 2017, Dunn was convicted in Ireland of an offence which in Britain would be charged as gross indecency between a man aged over 21 and a boy under 16, and that the offence had happened more than ten years ago.

Had he committed the offence in Britain he would have automatically been put on the sex offenders' register for ten years from the date of the conviction.

Because the offence was abroad, the police had to apply for him to go on the register. Magistrates granted the application.

"The sex offenders register doesn't place any prohibition on his movements or behaviour," she said.

Because he had been convicted of a sexual offence on March 3, 2005, in Britain, the police could apply for a SHPO which can limit a defendant's behaviour.

Magistrates made a SHPO against Dunn which included a clause that he did not contact any boy under the age of 16, except under strict conditions involving social services and the person granting the permission having full knowledge of his crimes.

Dunn will have to obey the order until February 2027 and will be on the sex offenders' register for the same period.