A NOTORIOUS paedophile and sex menace who was once banned from an entire North-East town has died in prison.

John Wayne Locke, who was 70, was banned from Hartlepool because of his behaviour.

Breaches of his Sexual Offences Prevention Order (Sopo) included tricking his way into an old people's home, trying to gain entry into the home of a four-year-old boy and molesting a cafe worker just to get locked up.

Acting Teesside coroner, Malcolm Donnelly heard Locke, whose last address was Marton Road, Middlesbrough, died of a heart attack in Holme House Prison, near Stockton on January 6 this year.

The coroner was informed that Locke's brother had refused to be acknowledged as his next of kin and had disowned him. A nephew was eventually found in New York who agreed to receive information of his uncle's death for administrative purposes.

The inquest, held at Teesside Magistrates' Court, heard that Locke, who wore an eye patch over his right eye, had been released from jail on December 16 but was back by December 23 for once again breaching his Sopo.

Locke was convicted and jailed in 2004 for indecently assaulting a 14-year-old boy. After his release in 2007 he was banned from entering Hartlepool for two years due to the danger he posed children after he did not tell authorities he had moved.

Further concerns about his behaviour led to him being given a Sopo in 2010 which he breached at least ten times.

Breaches included:

*Chatting to children aged between ten and 13 in Thornton Street, Hartlepool and trying to lure them into his then home in 2011.

*Tricking his way into an old people's care home in Middlesbrough in 2012, only days avoiding prison for flouting an order banning him from such buildings. He had claimed he lived in a care home but was lost and ended up wandering around the care home on The Crescent in Middlesbrough.

*Tapping at the window and opening the door of a Middlesbrough home of a four-year-old boy in March, 2014. He had to be taken from the property by passers-by who were approached by the boy's mother.

*In November 2012 he was convicted of breaching a Sopo after fondling the bottom of a cafe boss after asking her to take him to a nursing home.

Teesside Crown Court was told on several occasions that Locke would sometimes want to be locked up in the winter months and could not fit into society.

The coroner found Locke had died due to natural causes.