A serial sex offender has been jailed after he went off the police’s radar for almost two weeks before being tracked down to Totnes.

Gary Taylor, aged 63, formerly of Salisbury and the Isle of Wight, but now of no fixed address, was required to tell police about his movements because he has a history of sexual assaults on vulnerable lone females and is a registered sex offender.

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 a spot her to a bridge at Summerlock Approach where he was sleeping rough.

He went on to sexually assault her, leaving her traumatised. She told police Taylor was ‘rank’ and she had told him to leave her alone. She later said she felt sick and terrified.

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 admitted failing to comply with the sex offenders’ register.

He left his home on the Isle of Wight without informing the authorities on February 11 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 had apparently been living rough in Devon. He claimed he wanted to be arrested so he could get treatment for a hip condition.

Taylor has been jailed for nine months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: “This was a deliberate failure to comply, in particular by leaving the Isle of Wight and going off elsewhere. It caused more than a little upset and concern because you went a significant distance from where the authorities had tabs on you.”

Miss Caroline Bolt, prosecuting, said Taylor is on the register for life and required to notify police if he was away from his home address for more than three days.

He left home without telling the police in February before turning up in Devon, where he failed to re-register correctly at Torquay Police station on February 22 and being arrested in Totnes the next day.

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.”