A SEX offender managed to obtain a key for a Colne guest house and live there without the owners knowing, a court heard.
Allan Morton (28) was locked up for a total of 24 weeks after failing to comply with notification requirements for the sixth time and for breaching a suspended sentence.
The defendant was required to keep the police informed of any changes to his address, after he was put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years back in December, 2007. He had been convicted of sexual activity with a child under 16 and was jailed for 12 months.
And on August 24th last year, he was given 12 weeks in custody, suspended for six months, for ignoring the order for the fifth time.
Burnley Crown Court heard how Morton notified the police of a move from Ashfield Guest House to Chapelhouse Road, Nelson, on October 9th. In February, he registered a move back to the guest house.
But following two separate police visits, it was said that Morton had not been at either of the addresses at the times he said.
While staff at the guest house said that Morton had not been an occupant since October, the defendant told the police that he had been living there “informally.”
Mr Martin Hackett (defending) said: ”This is not a sophisticated offence. He was arrested at an address he had previously been registered to.
“He had rung the police to say ‘this is where I am living’, but it was unbeknown to the runner of the guest house in this particular case.”
And passing sentence, Judge Robert Altham said he had taken into consideration Morton’s early guilty plea and the fact he had complied with a supervision order.
He added: “You are deliberately acting in breach of this order. There is no question of you not understanding your obligations.
“You have shown yourself over the intermittent years to be apparently incapable of complying with the notification requirements.”
