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A 16-year-old has been jailed for four months after he refused to hand his computer password over to police.

Oliver Drage was arrested in May last year by officers investigating child sexual exploitation. Police couldn't gain access to his computer because it was protected by a complicated 50-character encryption password.

Drage was formally requested to tell police the password but failed to do so.

He was convicted last month of failing to disclose an encryption key, an offence covered by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and jailed for 16 weeks in a Young Offenders Institute.

Police are still trying to crack the code on Drage's computer to find out its contents 17 months after they seized it.

Detective Sergeant Neil Fowler, of Lancashire Police, said: 'Drage was previously of good character so the immediate custodial sentence handed down by the judge in this case shows just how seriously the courts take this kind of offence.

'Computer systems are constantly advancing and the legislation used here was specifically brought in to deal with those who are using the internet to commit crime.

'It sends a robust message out to those intent on trying to mask their online criminal activities that they will be taken before the courts with the ultimate sanction, as in this case, being a custodial sentence.'