A SEX offender is back behind bars after breaching court orders by inviting a 13-year-old boy into his home and giving him a can of lager.

Michael Naughton was already in breach of his notification requirements as a sex offender as he was not living at the address given to police on his release from prison.

Durham Crown Court was told Naughton, then 27, and of no fixed address, was jailed for 16 months at Newcastle Crown Court in 2013, for the sexual abuse of a young child, in 2011.

He was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for ten years and forbidden from having unsupervised contact with underage youngsters, as part of a Sexual Offences’ Prevention Order.

But he was back at court in September 2017, when he was jailed for 18 months for a further sexual offence involving an underage child, in breach of the order.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said on his release on licence from that sentence, Naughton told police he would be living at bed and breakfast accommodation in Sunderland, on February 5.

But, in a police visit, Naughton was no longer staying there, having checked out, and no-one appeared to know where he was living.

His supervising officer contacted him by phone, but Naughton refused to either hand himself in or reveal where he was then living.

It emerged, however, he was living in the Stanley area and had invited a 13-year-old boy into his home, in breach of the 2017 Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Mr Dryden said the boy refused the offer of a second can of lager, went home and informed his mother.

Naughton was traced and arrested, in early April.

The now 33-year-old defendant, of Shield Row, Stanley, admitted failing to comply with his sex offender notification requirements and and breaching his SHPO.

Vic Laffey, mitigating, said the main thing he could say on Naughton’s behalf was the fact he did not prevaricate and “came clean”.

Mr Laffey said Naughton checked out of the hotel as his whereabouts were published by a paedophile hunting vigilante group on his release from prison.

Jailing him for a total of 40-months, Recorder Joanne Kidd said the offences were aggravated by the fact Naughton was on licence and knew he was in breach of the various court orders.

She extended the SHPO relating to Naughton to make it, “without limit of time.”