A “high-risk” sex offender hid his past when he befriended a mother and took her young daughters on unsupervised days out, a court heard.

Richard Stanley Cullum, aged 36, of Buxton Road, Weymouth, was sentenced to five months in prison at Weymouth Magistrates Court after he pleaded guilty to being unsupervised with a child under 16 whilst prohibited from doing so by a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO).

He was handed the order at St Albans Crown Court in 2013 after being found in possession of indecent images of children. It prevents him from having unsupervised contact with a child under 16, except with consent of a parent.

The court heard that Cullum became friends with the mother of the two girls, aged seven and 10, last year.

Between July 22 last year and April 24 this year, Cullum took the girls on various unsupervised days out to places including theme parks outside of Dorset, as well as trips to an arcade and cinema in Weymouth, whilst occasionally doing the school run.

Lee Turner, prosecuting, said: “He is a high-risk sex offender.”

Mr Turner said Cullum worked near a school and police were contacted by a member of staff who was concerned. Officers went to the mother’s home, and she told police that she was friends with the defendant.

Mr Turner added that the mother confirmed to police that she had let the defendant go out on various day trips with her daughters, and that Cullum had unsupervised access on some of them. She was unaware of the order.

He added: “The defendant had also taken photos of her daughters on the trips. This was a deliberate act by the offender to involve himself in the family and make contact with the two girls.”

Lee Christmas, mitigating, said that Cullum was being “naïve.”

He said: “There was no suggestion that there was any untoward behaviour towards the two girls. No harm came to the children.

“He has been naïve. This isn’t a case where he is grooming them.”

Sentencing Cullum, Judge Manning said: “This was a serious, repeated and deliberate breach of your SOPO, carried out over a significant period of time.

“We acknowledge that no harm came to the children, but because it was persistent it crosses the threshold for custody.”

Cullum had one month deducted from a possible six-month sentence for entering a guilty plea but was denied a suspended sentence.