A CONVICTED paedophile is back behind bars after starting a relationship with a mum of three young girls and hiding his sordid past from her.

Thomas Jay, of Thomas Street in Cirencester, also formed friendships with other women who had daughters, and downloaded indecent images of children.

The 34-year-old became trusted by the mums and sometimes cuddled up to their daughters while watching TV with them in their homes, the court heard.

Jay, formerly of Moreton-in-Marsh, was jailed for two years at Gloucester Crown Court today after admitting 14 offences of breaching a sexual offences prevention order and seven of making indecent images of children.

The paedophile changed his surname from Asquith after being given a two-year prison term in 2010 for sex offences. On Tuesday, Judge Jamie Tabor QC warned Jay that if he commits similar offences in the future he risks being locked up for life.

Prosecutor Julian Kesner told the court that Jay struck up a relationship in April 2013 with a mum who had daughters aged 10, 12, and 14. He did not tell her of his previous child sex convictions or his sexual offences prevention order, which bars him from having contact with or being in the company of children.

"He did not simply breach the order in connection with these three girls but also with two other families," Mr Kesner said. "One was a lady with a 12-year-old daughter and another was a lady who was a friend and neighbour who also had a daughter, aged 14."

In February last year, police and social services went to the home of the mum-of-three and told her about Jay's past and the prevention order.

But when she confronted Jay he lied and claimed the police had made a mistake, and that he had paperwork to prove his innocence.

Although he never produced any such documents, she believed his lies and continued the relationship with him.

Later, he told one of the other women he had befriended that her 14-year-old daughter was “flirting with him” and had even offered him oral sex, the court heard.

The mum told police: "When he told me this he was gleaming like a loved up puppy dog."

Mr Kesner said: "This lady had no idea of his past at the time and now feels sickened and haunted by the comments he made."

When he was arrested on September 7 last year, police found a USB device plugged into his TV which contained 58 indecent images classed as category A – the most horrific – as well as 35 category B and 282 category C.

Jay's three previous convictions were all of a sexual nature and in 2010 he was convicted of inciting a girl under 13 into sexual activity, as well as for possessing indecent images, said Mr Kesner.

Dermot Clarke, defending Jay, said he denied saying to one mum that her daughter had offered him oral sex.

Jay also denied cuddling up to one of the girls and he particularly disputed the allegation he had befriended the mums so he could get close to their daughters, Mr Clarke said.

He added that Jay had undergone a sex offender course after his last conviction and now wanted to form a proper relationship with an adult woman but it was difficult to find any in his age group who did not have children.

Mr Clarke said Jay still looked at indecent images of children when he was tired, but there was no suggestion he had attempted to commit any offences against the young girls he had met.

However, the judge told Jay: "You have an enduring and dangerous desire to inveigle yourself into the trust of young people and then to sexually exploit them."