A REGISTERED sex offender who failed to tell police a 17-year-old was staying with him has been fined and given a community order.

Reece Cannon, 23, of Galsworthy Close, appeared at Swindon Magistrates Court on Monday and admitted not notifying police in April that the teenager was at his house.

Prosecuting Michelle Hewitt said: “At the time the police were looking for a missing 17-year-old female and they found the female at the address of the defendant.

“There is no statement from the 17-year-old found there. It was a deliberate failure to comply with the requirements.”

Mark Glendenning, defending, said his client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

He said: “He must notify police if a person under 18 spends over 12 hours at his address. But the person can leave at 11 hours and 59 mins and then come back.

“The police couldn’t prove she had been there longer than 12 hours.

“She needed somewhere to stay, he offered her somewhere to stay. He accepts that he didn’t tell anybody and he should have done. He couldn’t say how long she had been there.”

Cannon was last in court in May for allowing a girl under 18 to stay with him over the Christmas period and he was fined £120 for failing to notify the authorities.

Chairman of the bench Viv Street said: “We are going to make a 12 month community order and there is one requirement to attend rehabilitation activity requirements for up to 40 days. We are not going to impose a curfew on this occasion. You must pay £85 costs and a £85 victim surcharge.”