A PERVERT former youth football coach has been jailed for the third time after he was caught logging on to Grindr using a banned device.

Craig Raeburn was placed on a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) last year after he was caught attempting to meet someone he believed to be a young boy in an online vigilante sting at an Edinburgh train station.

Raeburn, 54, was forced to declare all internet devices under the order but he breached the strict rules when he was caught using an electronic tablet to log on to the gay dating site.

Police officers on patrol spotted the former NHS manager using the device while he was standing at a bus stop in Haddington earlier this year.

Raeburn claimed he had bought the tablet three days earlier after he became concerned of rumours that his personal details were being published on social media sites.

But he was jailed for 15 months by Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC when he appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday (Tuesday).

Previously, the court heard Raeburn was caught logging onto the Grindr app while standing at a bus stop outside a chemist on Haddington High Street at about 11.10pm on March 1.

Prosecutor Lorna Ferrier said: “The [police] officers spoke to him and he seemed agitated.

"He had a mobile phone and a tablet and was hastily attempting to switch the tablet off.

“Officers took possession of the device and saw there was an error message [displayed on the screen].

“He had been attempting to connect to a Grindr application and there was an active Wi-Fi connection.

“The accused said he was aware of the conditions of the SOPO and the tablet was seized.”

Raeburn, who was coaching boys at local youth side Cockenzie Star when he first began offending - he no longer has any involvement with the club - was jailed for 14 months in January 2017 when he was caught with 1,400 indecent images of children on his computer.

He was subsequently sacked from his position as a practitioner services manager with the NHS.

Raeburn was sent to prison again last year after getting caught up in a Wolf Pack Hunter UK online sting where he attempted to meet up with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old boy at an Edinburgh train station.

At that time, the father-of-two, from Port Seton, was sentenced to 20 months in custody and was placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and handed the SOPO.

Raeburn pleaded guilty to breaching his SOPO by possessing an internet capable device that had not been registered by the Offender Management Unit at High Street, Haddington, on March 1.