A FORMER train conductor has been jailed for 12 months for contacting a teenage girl in breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order made by the court to protect her from him.

Charles Hall, 60, was yesterday sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on a video link to Leeds Prison after he was recalled on licence for his second breach of the order.

Prosecutor Jo Shepherd said Hall, of Fallwood Street, Haworth, was jailed for two years and four months in November, 2018, for two offences of sexual activity with a child under 16.

The judge made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for seven years banning him from having any contact with the girl.

During that case, Bradford Crown Court heard that detectives from British Transport Police seized Hall’s work phone and discovered messages between him and the girl.

Hall, who was at that time working as a train conductor for Trans Pennine Express, was arrested after a colleague raised concerns when he overheard him using inappropriate sexual language towards the victim on a video call in the staff mess room.

While in prison serving that sentence, Hall attempted to contact his victim by post in February last year.

He admitted breaching the SHPO and was jailed for eight months at Leeds Crown Court on December 31, 2019.

After his release, and while still on licence, Hall contacted the teenager again, Miss Shepherd said.

When the police seized his phone, they found 21 images of the girl on it and two messages from her.

Hall went on to plead guilty to his second breach of the order.

His barrister, Stephen Uttley, said the teenager had declined to give a police statement about the breach. There was no evidence of serious alarm or distress being caused to her.

A psychological report referred to Hall’s “Peter Pan nature” saying he was more relaxed in relationships with young people than those in his own age group.

Mr Uttley said that Hall had no criminal convictions apart from the sexual matters.

Judge Andrew Hatton said he had pleaded guilty to the offence at the first opportunity at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court.

But it was a deliberate and serious breach of the order. He had contacted the very individual it was meant to protect from him.