A PAEDOPHILE chef is back in prison after ignoring sex offender register terms by staying in a hotel 20 times with a girlfriend without telling police.

Dewi Mortimer, 27, was jailed in 2020 for grooming a 15-year-old schoolgirl and sending a lewd picture of himself to her on Snapchat.

The defendant from Caerphilly was undergoing a sex offender treatment programme at the time for committing an offence against underage girls in 2017.

On that occasion he had contacted two 13-year-olds on Facebook and sent them sexually explicit images and “mentioned a threesome”.

Mortimer was back in trouble with police when his supervising officer discovered he was flouting sex offender register terms and breaching a sex offences prevention order in January.

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Pamela Kaiga, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court the sex offender register offence occurred between April 2023 and this January when he stayed at the Premier Inn in Caerphilly for 20 nights without informing the authorities.

Mortimer breached the terms of his sex offences prevention order by deleting the internet history on his mobile phone after searching for dating sites.

The defendant, of Bradford Street, pleaded guilty to both offences.

He was imprisoned for a similar offence in 2021.

Kathryn Lane representing him said he was looking to put these matters behind him and he has an offer of work after his release.

Judge Carl Harrison told Mortimer: “By your own mission you stayed the Premier Inn for 20 nights – that's two nights every month since April 2023.

“This shows that your offending was both planned and prolonged.

"On January 10 this year, an officer who's responsible for supervising your sexual harm prevention order attended your home address on a routine visit.

"You were not there and the person at the address directed the officer to your mother's address.

"You were located by using the Find My iPhone app and the officer found that you were with a girlfriend at the Premier Inn in Caerphilly."

He added: “When you were interviewed by the probation service, you made some significant admissions.

“You said you were fully aware of the requirements of the order.

“You also didn't report your new relationship because you were concerned about the checks that would follow and would draw social services’ attention to the fact that you were in a relationship with a woman who had a one-year-old child.

"You've shown persistent disregard for the court orders that have been imposed.”

Mortimer was jailed for 14 months and ordered to pay a £187 victim surcharge following his release from custody.