A SEX offender has been sent back to prison after failing to sign on at a police station.

Kenny Knight was released from prison in May, but did not go to sign the sex offenders’ register at the police station in John Street, Brighton.

It was the 13th time he had committed the offence of failing to notify the police.

Knight was convicted for rape in 2005 and served four years.

He is considered as a “high risk of serious harm to children”.

The 39-year-old refused to leave his cell for a sentencing hearing at Hove Crown Court.

Judge Paul Tain jailed Knight for ten months.

Natasha Isaac, prosecuting, said Knight eventually handed himself in to police in July.

She said: “He was released from prison on May 31, and had three days to sign on to the register. He did not do so.

“On July 24, he walked up to an officers and handed himself in.

“This is the 13th failure to notify offence, and there are several other failure to surrender offences.”

David Bathhurst, defending, said he had been fully briefed, but told the judge that Knight had refused to leave his cell to appear on a video link for his hearing last week.

He said: “Knight has a depressingly high number of previous convictions for the same offence.

“He is presented as a high risk of serious harm to children.

“My client offered himself to the police.

“He could have done so weeks earlier, but made full admissions at interview.”

Mr Bathhurst said Knight, of no fixed address, has struggled to find accommodation when he has come out of prison and has often been homeless on the streets.

He said: “It is a revolving door situation as soon as my client comes out of prison. He sleeps rough. I cannot deny his attitude is less than helpful.

“It is a ridiculous logic, of breaching supervision, and what is underneath it is his frustration at not being able to sort out permanent accommodation.”

Judge Tain was told that the maximum sentence for breaching conditions of the sex offenders’ register is five years, but was told Knight’s offending was at the lower end of the scale.

The judge gave Knight full credit for an early guilty plea, but said only immediate custody could be justified for the repeated breaches.

The sex offenders’ register was set up in 1997. All convicted offenders must register with the police, in person, within three days of their conviction or release.