Convicted Kettering sex offender who said he was Santa released from prison after another court appearance

A convicted Kettering child sex offender found himself back in trouble just weeks after being spared from prison for telling kids he was Santa.

Thomas Hunter, of Lindsay Street, is on the sex offender register for life and subject to a sexual harm prevention order after being jailed in 2009.

Last year he avoided an immediate prison spell ‘by the skin of his teeth’ after breaching the order by approaching children, telling two he was Santa and one they were ‘on the nice list’.

The following month he was arrested again for not sticking to sex offender register rules and he had been held at HMP Peterborough.

Yesterday (Thursday) he was handed four-and-a-half months in prison after admitting failing to comply with notification requirements – meaning he was released because of time served.

Sentencing, Recorder Balraj Bhatia KC told him: "You would be well advised, when you are released, to go back to the probation service and clarify the dos and don’ts with some certainty.”

Northampton Crown Court heard the 66-year-old is subjected to strict conditions, which include notifying police of bank cards so he can be monitored.

Just before Christmas he had a meeting with a probation officer and his offender manager to make sure he understood the requirements of the sex offender register and the sexual harm prevention order, given his previous breaches.

Prosecutor Andrew Howarth said Hunter, who was unpresented, told them he did and was asked to show them his bank cards. He then produced two debit cards which he had not promptly notified the authorities of.

Mr Howarth said: "The crown do not suggest that this is a particularly significant breach.

"The difficulty is that in the past the defendant has shown some disregard to the conditions of the sexual harm prevention order and notification requirements.”

Recorder Bhatia KC activated four-and-a-half months of Hunter’s previous suspended sentence and passed a concurrent term of the same length for the December incident.

It meant the sex offender would be released from prison – but he was warned that his previous restrictions remained in place.

Recorder Bhatia KC told him: "You have to carefully read the documents. They are there to protect the public and also to make you aware of what you can and cannot do.”