A SERIAL sex offender from the Isle of Wight has been jailed after going off the police radar for almost two weeks.

Gary Taylor, a registered sex offender with a history of sexual assaults on vulnerable lone females, was required to tell police about his movements.

The 62-year-old left his home on the Isle of Wight without informing the authorities on February 11 of this year and did not turn up again until February 22, when he presented himself at Torquay Police Station but refused to complete the necessary forms.

He was eventually arrested in Totnes the next day and the court heard he had been living rough in Devon.

He claimed he wanted to be arrested so he could get treatment for a hip condition.

Taylor was categorised as a dangerous offender when he was jailed for a total of eight years and four months in 2015 for sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman who had mental health issues.

He approached her while she was sitting on a bench in June 2014, and offered her a cigarette and whisky before taking her to a bridge at Summerlock Approach where he was sleeping rough.

He went on to sexually assault her, leaving her traumatised.

He also has convictions for sexually assaulting lone females on trains and was already on the register when he committed the offence in Salisbury.

Taylor, formerly of Salisbury and the Isle of Wight, but now of no fixed address, admitted failing to comply with the sex offenders’ register and was jailed for nine months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court. 

Taylor was not represented but told the judge he had been confused by the law.

He said he went to the police station in the hope of being arrested but had been turned away.

He said: “I went to get arrested because I needed treatment for a broken hip but it was not until the next day that I got picked up for something else.”