A convicted paedophile living in Hitchin is set to be sentenced next month after he used a tablet to look for pictures of girls under the age of 18, and failed to tell police of his new address.

Guy Lawrence, of Dacre Road in Hitchin, appeared at St Albans Crown Court today after earlier pleading guilty to possessing the tablet device in breach of a sexual harm prevention order, and breaching the Sexual Offences Act by not informing police he had moved home.

Prosecutor Kevin West told the court of searches on the 53-year-old paedophile’s tablet for pictures of “clothed and unclothed girls between the ages of 10 and 18”.

Lawrence, formerly of Stevenage, was jailed for 15 months in April 2014 after he admitted possession of 369 indecent images of children, as well as extreme pornography portraying sexual acts with animals.

While on bail after pleading guilty in January that year, Lawrence – who already had previous convictions for sex offences – went missing.

A police helicopter was deployed over Stevenage in March 2014 while officers looked for him. Lawrence was later convicted of possessing a knife during this time.

Lawrence was arrested again this year over these fresh offences. On August 1 he pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual harm prevention order by possessing a tablet device capable of transmitting data and using the internet, without police-approved risk-management software.

He also pleaded guilty to breaching the Sexual Offences Act by failing to notify police of his change of address.

Judge Graham Arran ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared, and released Lawrence on bail until September 21.

He warned the 53-year-old not to take this bail as an indication of the sentence he will receive, and imposed an extra bail condition referencing co-operation with the probation service.