Paul Wallis 48

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A paedophile who befriended a family so he could get close to a young child has been put back behind bars. 

Paul Wallis had been released after serving half of a 30-month sentence for sex assault on a boy when he targeted the victims.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Wallis is banned from having contact with children by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which was imposed when he was convicted of the sex offence in Sheffield. 

Despite the restrictions on him, Wallis became a regular visitor at a house where a child would often be present and the family had no idea about his sinister past.

Fortunately, Wallis did not physically touch or hurt the child. 

But in an impact statement, the child's mother said she was "deeply concerned and devastated" to find out they had been in the company of a convicted paedophile.

She said Wallis "deliberately befriended" the family to gain access to the child and they have been left traumatised by thoughts of what could have happened. 

Wallis initially claimed the family knew he was a sex offender and must have "forgot".

The 48-year-old, of Tyne Gardens, Ovingham, Northumberland, later admitted breach of a sexual harm prevention order.