A PERVERT pensioner is behind bars for acting as an unofficial taxi driver to ferry children around his neighbourhood.

William Jewitt was banned from having contact with under-18s as part of a Sexual offences Prevention Order imposed in 2005.

The prohibition was enforced after the 73-year-old was convicted of multiple charges of indecent assault and gross indecency.

Jewitt, from Middlesbrough, was jailed for six years at Newcastle Crown Court for abusing four girls in his car in the 1990s.

It emerged in October this year Jewitt had been using his car to give lifts to families in his North Ormesby community.

Teesside Crown Court heard that he did not tell their parents about his sordid past and the ban he had for child contact.

Mothers told in police statements how they gave the pensioner petrol money to run them around, and they trusted him.

John Nixon, mitigating, said Jewitt has not committed a sexual offence since the 1990s, and was never left alone with the children.

"On this occasion, there was no suggestion of any improper motive on behalf of the defendant," Mr Nixon told Judge Deborah Sherwin "There was no attempt made to isolate any of these children. There was no contact with them on his own, away from their families.

"He would never have done anything to hurt any of the children. He is now homeless after individuals in his neighbourhood were made aware of his past and his house has been vandalised, entered and ruined."

The judge, however, refused to accept Jewitt's involvement with the families was innocent, and jailed him for two years.

She said a probation officer thought he was "deceitful and underhand" and added: "You are assessed as a high risk of reoffending.

"I have no doubt if you had had your way, things would have evolved and over time so you could be alone with the children."

Jewitt, formerly of West Terrace, North Ormesby, admitted five breaches of the Sexual Offences Prevention Order.