An Adelaide paedophile has been sent to prison for masturbating in a store window and for using the social media site Pinterest to view images of young boys.

Key points: Stephen John Foster was given a three-year good behaviour bond in February 2018 for accessing child exploitation material

Stephen John Foster was given a three-year good behaviour bond in February 2018 for accessing child exploitation material He breached it three times, including by using Pinterest without notifying authorities

He breached it three times, including by using Pinterest without notifying authorities The judge said he had "little insight" into his offending

Stephen John Foster, 71, was on a three-year, seven-month good behaviour bond imposed in 2018 for an aggravated charge of being in possession of child exploitation material at the time.

He was sentenced in February 2018 for possessing with 46 images of boys dressed only in underwear.

He was also sentenced in 2011 to three years' imprisonment for uploading 600 images of child abuse and being in possession of 19,000 more images and videos on his home computer after SA Police received advice from US authorities.

South Australia's District Court heard Foster breached his good behaviour bond in two ways, in addition to the indecent behaviour charge for masturbating in a store window.

The incident happened on Tapleys Hills Road, in Adelaide's western suburbs, on December 2, 2018, while children were in a car driving past.

A witness filmed the crime and yelled at Foster, prompting him to retreat back into the shop, which was connected to a unit he lived in.

He claimed he believed he was not able to be seen from the road.

Three breaches of good behaviour bond

In her sentencing remarks handed down this week, Judge Joanne Tracey said the good behaviour bond breaches were more serious than the indecent behaviour.

In one of the breaches, he created a Pinterest account, which he admitted to police that he used to access images of young boys.

He denied doing it for sexual gratification.

Pinterest is a social media site where users can "pin" bookmarks. ( RN )

He was meant to provide any details of his internet use, including usernames to the Australian National Child Offender Register (ANCOR).

His lawyer said he did not realise Pinterest was social media.

The site is more typically used to "pin" or bookmark images, particularly of interior decorating and recipes.

"In my view, your offending is troubling in that there appears to be an underlying theme of you choosing to disregard your obligations with you showing little insight," Judge Tracey said.

"While I accept that you may not have thought the Pinterest site was a social media account, your ANCOR reporting obligation is to report details of any email addresses, passwords, internet usernames, instant messaging usernames, chat room usernames, or any other access code, user name or identity used or intended to be used by you through the internet or any other electronic communication service to ANCOR within seven days.

"Given the wide scope of these obligations it should have been quite plain to you that a report was required."

The account was discovered five days after his indecent behaviour arrest.

He also breached his bond by getting paid for handyman work without notifying ANCOR.

Separately, he breached his bail by travelling to Melbourne to visit a relative without notifying SA Police.

'No grounds' to excuse the breaches

He was sentenced to 18 days' jail for the indecent behaviour and four months and five days for the bond breaches.

It will be added to his original sentence, bringing it to three years, 11 months and 11 days, with a non-parole period of two years and one week.

He will be eligible for parole in February 2021.

"In my view, your breaches of the suspended sentence bond cannot be described as trivial and there are no grounds to excuse the breaches," Judge Tracey said.