A CONVICTED sex offender who breached court orders by travelling to Amsterdam is back behind bars.

When police visited Damien Kydd's home after hearing of his overseas trip, they found cannabis and amphetamine.

Officers also discovered he had got a new mobile phone with internet access and opened a bank account without telling them – also in breach of restrictions first imposed when he was jailed in 2009.

Kydd, 33, from Guisborough, east Cleveland, had also stolen three cheques from his foster mother last month, prosecutor Emma Atkinson told Teesside Crown Court.

Judge Peter Armstrong heard how he first appeared in court in 2008 for fraud and stealing cheques from his employer and was given a community order.

The following year, Kydd was locked up for two years for offences of sexual activity in the presence of a child and possessing indecent images.

In 2013, he was jailed again for having more pictures of child abuse on a mobile phone found under a sofa, and breaching orders designed to curb his perverted behaviour.

And in 2015, he was given five years for yet further indecent images offences and flouting the court restrictions.

Miss Atkinson told the court that Kydd travelled to London in February and took the Eurostar train to France before going to Amsterdam and returning on a ferry to North Shields.

One of the requirements of him being on the sex offenders' register is that he has to tell police of any plans to leave the UK at least seven days before he goes.

Sarah Lish, mitigating, said it was "unfortunate" that he had breached the Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) three times earlier, and added: "He can only apologise for falling foul of it again."

Kydd's foster mother, 76, who has brought him up since he was a baby, was said to be devastated by the theft of the cheques.

Miss Atkinson said: "She has always been there for him. Clearly, this has had an impact in her.

"She has stood by him through all his sexual offences and all she has done is support him through his life. She survives on a pension."

Miss Lish told the court: "There is no suggestion that his time abroad was anything other than a short break in the usual way.

"He and his mother are now back on speaking terms, and she has contacted him while he has been in Durham Prison [on remand, since his arrest].

"He accepts that his behaviour has caused her some significant upset, and fully accepts she has been nothing but supportive of him throughout his offending behaviour.

"He is trying to make amends. He says their relationship is not what it used to be yet, but he is hopeful with time they will get back to where they were before."

Kydd, of Helmsley Drive, Guisborough, admitted two charges of failing to comply with notification requirements, breaching the SHPO, theft, and two counts of possessing Class B drugs.

Judge Armstrong told him: "This sort of behaviour seems compulsive as far as you are concerned. Previous prison sentences haven't prevented you from carrying on.

"Your record for one of your age is substantial."