A SEX offender who failed to tell authorities where he was living did less than a quarter of the community service he was sentenced to.

Mark Bates of Hornbeam Court, Pinehurst, was told to do 120 hours of unpaid work for the community in January last year after admitting to criminal damage and failing to comply with the register.

But the 32-year-old only did 25-and-a-quarter hours before he failed to turn up in April last year. The probation service stopped the order and brought him back to court.

However after hearing that it was the only time he had failed to do the work a judge at Swindon Crown Court fined him £75 and ruled the order should continue.

Bates was convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old girl in May 2001, when he was aged 29, and jailed for ten months.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for seven years meaning he had to inform the authorities of where he was living.

Despite having a previous caution for not notifying a change of address, he was not living where he claimed in December 2002.

On that occasion he had gone to his girlfriend's home and damaged the front door and a mobile phone during a late night row.

Robin Shellard, defending, said that it was not a case where his client had failed to do the work after being given a number of chances by probation.

He said that the time he had failed to turn up Bates was going through problems in his life.

The report from the probation service said that Bates had done the 25 hours in good time and without any trouble. He said that his client was keen to carry on and complete the order.

Imposing the fine, Judge Charles Wade told him: "You may feel complying with the register of sex offenders is not important, but it is. It is important you comply with it."

Tina Clarke