A man who lured a young girl into sex after meeting her on the Internet narrowly escaped prison for breaching his probation order.

Ronico Richardson, now 23, was jailed for 15 months in August 2008 for having sex with a minor. Supreme Court heard yesterday that he failed to comply with directions to sign the sex offenders' register after his release, and go to sex offenders' counselling.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves threatened to send him back to prison, before tightening the terms of the probation order and warning: "That's your last chance, you can trust me on that".

The original court hearing in 2008 heard from prosecutor Nicole Smith how Richardson met the victim on the MSN social networking site, and told her he was 17.

They agreed to meet in July 2007, when Richardson was 20 and the girl was 13. He went to the girl's house and the pair had sex on her mother's bed.

In February, 2008, when the girl was 14 and Richardson 21, the pair met again at the girl's house when no one else was home, and again had sex.

However, Ms Smith said the mother's partner came home and attempted to open the locked bedroom door. He called the girl's mother, who then returned home. When she went into the room she saw the girl lying on the bed.

The mother and her partner found Richardson under the bed shirtless with his pants open and his belt hanging.

Richardson asked Mr. Justice Greaves to give him another chance but the judge sentenced him to the term of imprisonment plus two years of probation after his release.

The probation order stated that Richardson must not reoffend, must notify probation officers if he changed address or job, and must report to probation officers when required. Failure to comply carried the threat of more prison time.

Richardson was released in July, 2009 but came back before the judge yesterday, after his probation officer, Milton McKenzie, reported he has not been complying with the order since May 20 this year.

Mr. McKenzie told the court Richardson failed to notify Probation Services of a change in his employment, and did not comply with directions to sign the sex register. He reported he has only been turning up to weekly sex offender counselling intermittently.

Defence lawyer Larry Scott said Richardson became "confused" because his order did not specify that he had to attend the classes after release from prison, and he "stupidly concluded that he didn't have to attend probation".

He said the breach was not "flagrant", such as it would have been if Richardson had been back in contact with young girls. He described the problem as a "hiccup" and urged the judge not to send him back to prison.

Mr. Scott added that Richardson was working for a private electrical company but left, and is now working in the electrical department at Bermuda College and studying that subject too.

Prosecutor Maria Sofianos said the original sentence was "extraordinarily fair for the seriousness of the offence this defendant was charged with".

She noted that he complied with his probation order for a period after his release, said it was not clear why he stopped. She suggested he should be given a final chance, but with additions to the original order to keep him in line.

Richardson apologised to the judge and said: "I can assure you it will never happen again".

Mr. Justice Greaves ruled: "Having found the defendant to be in breach of his probation order, he shall be allowed one further opportunity to comply. The probation order shall be amended to include a condition that the defendant attend all programmes directed or approved by his probation officer. That now includes a sexual offenders' programme."

He also told Richardson: "You shall carry out all lawful instructions by your probation officer and that includes getting registered."

He warned him that if he does not abide by the order this time: "That puts you in jail so fast you would think you were born there. Don't go back."