A man has been given a restraining order after sending 'grossly offensive messages' to a convicted sex offender.

Stuart Collins, 43, and of Lyme Regis, appeared before Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, November 16 for sentencing where he was representing himself.

He had pleaded guilty to one charge of sending grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages via Facebook.

The charge relates to an incident on January 22 of this year.

His victim, a sex offender who is no longer on the register and has subsequently changed names, was in a relationship when his partner shared details of the previous conviction, alongside his former name, with fellow members of a car ownership group.

Collins, whose address was given as North Avenue, Lyme Regis, "took it upon himself" to research the victim's background and obtained a copy of a driving licence issued in the victim’s previous name.

Elizabeth Valera, prosecuting, said Collins “carried out further investigations” and sent a number of messages to the victim.

She read extracts of the exchange in which he said “I know your real name” and “you’re not going to tell the police or anybody (about the messages)”.

The court heard Collins paid an individual £11 to find out about the trial of the victim and messaged him saying “I’ll tell you what when I see you… let’s hope the police get to you before I do”.

The victim then asked Collins if this was a threat, to which Collins said “too f**king right it’s a threat, you paedo”.

The victim said to Collins that he had “got it all wrong”.

Collins admitted to the court that he sent the final message but said it was “more of a context threat than a physical threat”. He also disputed that the information had come from the victim’s partner of the time and said he had retained all the messages.

The court heard the defendant alleged the victim had been in touch with his children and that this was the reason he first contacted the individual.

Collins has several previous convictions including common assault and driving offences.

Chairman of the bench, Mr Colin Weston, rejected an application by the prosecution for compensation and imposed a two-year conditional discharge on Collins.

Collins will be subject to a restraining order in respect of his victim for a period of a year and has been ordered to pay a £22 surcharge to fund victim services and £28 in costs.