July 2017 Child sex offender from Blackburn lied to police about iPhone A sex offender lied to police carrying out a compliance visit just two weeks after he had been released from prison. Blackburn magistrates heard Ben Timothy Franklin said he only had access to the internet through the laptop owned by the hostel where he was living and claimed his phone was a “brick” which could not access the web. But a sharp eyed officer spotted an Apple charger plugged in in his bedroom and Franklin produced the phone from under his bed cover. Franklin, 22, of Haworth House, St Peter Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to breaching requirements of a sexual harm prevention order. He was sentenced to six weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay £85 costs and £115 victim surcharge. Catherine Allan, prosecuting, said Franklin had been jailed for raping a 13-year-old girl in 2015 and had been released from prison in May. Imran Hussain, defending, said his client was entitled to have the iPhone which can access the internet but he is required to produce it to the police.