A paedophile was caught breaching his court order within two months of it being imposed

Marian Burlan walked from Oxford Crown Court with a 16 month suspended sentence in June, after a judge said she was ‘just persuaded’ that he could be rehabilitated in the community.

That confidence proved ill-founded, when the 58-year-old found himself back in the dock at Oxford Magistrates’ Court last month for breaching the sexual harm prevention order that banned him from having digital devices that had not been registered with the police. The justices committed the case to the crown court for sentence.

Brazen Burlan’s sick interest in indecent images was originally discovered in 2019 when technicians at repair firm eFix Computers discovered a child sex abuse image saved as his laptop’s screensaver.

Another IT engineer checked the deleted images folder and saw a video of a girl he thought was aged around 10.

When police raided ex-merchant sailor Burlan's home, they seized digital devices later discovered to contain almost 50,000 child sex abuse images and videos. In a paper notepad he had listed websites where the vile material could be found.

Burlan, formerly of Main Road, Long Hanborough, appeared before Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday to be sentenced for breaching his sexual harm prevention order. The two breaches of the order concerned his acquisition of a smartphone and the use of two 'virtual private network' (VPN) apps.

But prosecutor Robert Lindsey questioned whether the case could go ahead, as no Romanian interpreter had been booked.

He also apologised for the ‘state’ of the prosecution papers, which had only been uploaded to the digital system an hour before the hearing.

Judge Michael Gledhill KC, battling court WiFi woes, replied: “As I’ve got no access to the internet at the moment, I don’t think you need apologise.”

He remanded Burlan in custody until September 23, telling the defendant: “In the circumstances, regrettable as it is, I adjourn the sentence.”

Burlan, who appeared in the dock wearing a grey tracksuit and carrying what appeared to be a black leather-bound bible, spoke only to confirm his name.

When the Romanian national was sentenced earlier this summer, Judge Maria Lamb told him: “The author of this pre-sentence report says that the exploitation and abuse of children undertaken to gratify individuals – individuals like you - who are often able to detach themselves from ownership of the criminal actions that are directly carried out against those children is a deeply destructive and utterly callous process.

“I agree wholeheartedly with what the probation officer says about that.  

“In fairness to you, it does appear from what was said to the probation officer during the course of your interview with him that you have a realisation of the gravity of your offending.” 

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward