A vile paedophile from Ellesmere Port has had a 'blanket ban' on him accessing the internet, except at libraries, overturned by senior judges.
Richard James Hewitt was jailed for three years and four months at Chester Crown Court in July last year.
The 41-year-old, of Old Chester Road, Ellesmere Port, admitted attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity.
He also pleaded guilty to possession of an indecent child image and breach of a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO).
The sentence ran consecutively to a two-year jail term received in 2016 for attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.
Hewitt contacted girls on Skype and in online chat rooms, asked them for photos and encouraged them to touch themselves, London's Appeal Court heard.
Ms Justice Russell said he asked a girl he believed to be nine what she was wearing and if she 'felt horny', before requesting explicit photos.
But a girl he believed to be 12 was actually an undercover police officer, the judge added.
When she asked him his age, Hewitt replied 'does age matter?' and said, 'being honest I want to meet and f*** you' and 'I want to be your first'.
He asked a teenage girl the colour of her underwear and said he wanted to kiss her and 'touch her up'.
An explicit image of a young girl was found on his laptop and he was in breach of a SOPO imposed in 2007.
The judge who jailed Hewitt noted his 'very bad record of offences of this type'.
Seven previous convictions, spanning 2007 to 2016, included making indecent photos of children and sexual assault.
And, on top of his jail term, the judge imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
That banned Hewitt from owning, possessing or using devices which can access the internet, except for using computers at public libraries.
His barrister, Maria Masselis, argued that the ban went much too far and should be overturned.
Ms Justice Russell, who was sitting with two other judges, said: "There may be a case where a blanket ban is proportionate, even though oppressive.
"But we do not consider Hewitt's offending, repugnant though it is, would justify such a ban."
She added that use of the internet is an 'essential and integral part of everyone's everyday life'.
The terms of the SHPO 'amounted to a blanket ban and as such are oppressive and disproportionate'.
New terms were drawn up which will allow Hewitt to access the internet, as long as certain conditions are met.
These include notifying police, making any electronic devices available for inspection and not using software to hide his internet search history.
