A PAEDOPHILE whose first conviction was 35 years ago was himself sexually assaulted in prison, it was revealed as he was jailed once again.

Paul Hart, 54, of Blackdown North Road, Westcliff, was arrested when his home was raided by police following reports or sexual conversations with children online and indecent images of children.

Southend Crown Court was told yesterday he had previously sexually assaulted a young boy, and his string of child sex offences date back to the 1980s.

Yesterday he was jailed for two and a half years after Judge Ian Graham told the court that attempts to try and get him back into normal life had failed.

Prosecuting, Oliver Kirk said: “On March 18 2020 police raided his home and found a number of devices with indecent images of children and sexual conversations with a child.

“There were group chats with other like-minded people and he was sharing indecent images with the others. He admitted the offences and told police he had an interest in young teenagers and didn’t see anything wrong in sharing the images.

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“He has 11 convictions dating back to 1987, including gross indecently on a child and sex offences on a child under 13.”

Mitigating, Vishal Misra told the court the history is confusing due to charge and admission changes.

He said: “He’s been subject to a sexual assault in prison and was moved to another cell and was without his belongings for about a week.

“He’s been in lockdown in the cell for about 23 hours a day and under extreme prison conditions.”

Judge Graham said only immediate prison was appropriate for the sex offender.

He said: “You have a poor record for similar offences especially towards young boys and again you are in trouble for that sort of offence.

“The images found were the most serious and contained explicit sexual activity. You had sexually charged conversations with a 15 year old who was entitled to the protection of the law.

“The time to put you back into a normal life has gone and that has failed in the past too.”