Sex offender Paul Hunter Redpath jailed for breaking release conditions

Paul Hunter Redpath had 63 offences on his record

A sex offender who was the subject of a Crimewatch television appeal after going on the run has been jailed again.

Paul Hunter Redpath, 51, was locked up in 2006 for sexually abusing two girls, aged 13 and 15, on waste ground in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland.

He was later jailed again for breaking restrictions imposed on his release.

Redpath, who was freed again on licence in 2019, moved to approved premises in Carlisle and informed police - but absconded the same day.

He had been subject to an order forbidding him from leaving Cumbria and sex offender notification requirements meant he had a duty to tell police where he was living.

Prosecutor Josh Bowker told Carlisle Crown Court: "For two years, he failed to do that."

After Redpath disappeared, police issued an urgent public appeal.

BBC Crimewatch viewers were told he had a distinctive grey beard and used false names, including James McInley and Jordan Macpherson.

Originally from Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway, Redpath had last been seen in the Kendal area of Cumbria.

Picked on by youths

Members of the public were urged not to approach him. One senior police officer had previously said he posed a major risk to children in particular.

Redpath resurfaced in Sussex last December after buying alcohol and being picked on by local youths.

"He threw a bottle at them and was arrested," his barrister Andrew Evans said.

The court heard he said he had broken his release conditions because, when he arrived at the approved premises, he was recognised by two other residents who had been inmates at the same prison.

They "knew what he had been imprisoned for" and had made a sinister comment, Mr Evans said.

Redpath had 63 previous offences on his record, including court order breaches which had resulted in about 156 months' imprisonment.

He was jailed for two years for the latest breaches.

The judge said Redpath's claims he was threatened were "simply no justification for you ignoring court orders".