POLICE have launched a murder inquiry after a North-East paedophile was found battered to death at his run-down home.

The body of 73-year-old convicted sex offender Arnold Hartley was discovered by police at the weekend.

Officers were called to the house in Redcar early on Saturday after a member of the public reported a disturbance.

The pensioner's body was found in a downstairs room. Police said he had been beaten and suffered injuries to the head and face.

Entry to the property was forced, and police said his house was in a very poor condition both inside and out.

Details of the weapon used to attack the pensioner have not been released, but a post-mortem examination has been carried out and, as a result, police are treating the death as murder.

Mr Hartley was on the sex offenders' register as "medium risk". He was well-known in the community as a convicted sex offender.

He was jailed in August 2001 at Teesside Crown Court for making indecent pictures of a child and for gross indecency. He was released from prison in April last year.

Police said there had been a history of people harassing him at the address and confirmed that Mr Hartley's convictions would form part of their murder inquiry.

Detective Superintendent Brian Dunn said: "A lot of people were aware of his convictions and he suffered verbal abuse fairly regularly in the past few months.

"I think he coped as well as he could with the harassment.

"We are taking into account the connection between his past offences. Someone may have attacked him partly as a result of his convictions.

"But what he has done in the past does not give people the right to attack and murder him."

He said Mr Hartley had never married, had no children and had lived all his life in the Redcar area.

He said: "He was a bit of a loner and didn't take care of himself.

"His house and his lifestyle were untidy.

"He worked as an electrician in the Redcar area, and his parents lived at the address in Queen Street before him."

The house, close to Redcar's seafront, stands less than 100 yards from a nursery.

One neighbour said the paedophile's home had been subjected to many attacks.

Cal Birkbeck, owner of the Castle Hotel, opposite Mr Hartley's two-storey terraced home, said the pensioner gave up replacing his broken windows because they had been smashed so many times.

He said: "It is common knowledge he was a paedophile.

"He looked very meek and mild and wore glasses. He got his car smashed up about 18 months ago and it looked like somebody had been jumping up and down on the roof.

"I said somebody must have a grudge against him because they hadn't attacked any other cars. But he said 'Oh no, I haven't got any enemies'."

Mr Birkbeck believed the pensioner lived alone, but remembered seeing teenage girls going into the house.

The front door of the house was hidden behind a police tent and forensic experts dressed in white suits could be seen going in and out of the property yesterday.

Three floral tributes were left in the front of the house, with one card saying: "God Bless."

A 28-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were arrested and questioned, but released by police last night.

Police want to speak to anyone who was near the house between midnight and 3am on Saturday.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or Cleveland Police on (01642) 302626