A judge has shown mercy to a former sex offender who broke the law by going on a belated honeymoon with his new wife.

Neil Kirby was supposed to notify police about any plans for foreign travel because he was on the sex offenders’ register as a result of being caught with child abuse images in 2014.

He forgot to tell them about his travel plans and went on a short break with his new wife in January, two months after the couple got married.

Hydraulics engineer Kirby, 63, of Barn Park, Buckfastleigh, admitted two counts of failing to comply with the register and one of breaching a sexual offences prevention order.

He was ordered to do 120 hours unpaid community work and pay £535 costs by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him:"There was nothing wrong with your motivation for going abroad. You were not visiting a part of the world where odd offences may occur, it was a mainstream place.

"In my view you were not deliberately trying to cause problems, you were simple being careless and not complying with your responsibilities."

Gordon Richings, prosecuting, said Kirby was put on the register in February 2014 when he received a community order at Plymouth Crown Court for downloading indecent images of children.

He should have told the police about applying for a passport and before travelling abroad but did not inform them about a trip to Portugal in January.

He also broke a sexual harm prevention order by deleting the browsing history from one day in June last year.

Paul Dentith, defending, said Kirby had not been on holiday for 30 years and had been working 16-hour days before his wife booked the short break in Portugal.

He said they had been married in November and he was so excited by going on the trip that he forgot that he had to tell the police about it.

Mr Dentith said the browsing history had been deleted inadvertently while he was installing new software onto his computer. The PC had been seized by police and no illegal material had been found on it.