A predatory paedophile has been jailed for three years after he tried to lure teenage girls into a sauna.

Mark Jenks has also been banned from every leisure centre or swimming pool in the country.

Jenks, 52, of Brunswick Terrace, Hove, has committed more than 20 offences against young children since the Seventies.

He was made the subject of a Sexual Offenders' Prevention Order (Sopo) two years ago, Hove Crown Court heard yesterday.

It banned him from having any contact with children under the age of 18 unless approved by police but he breached the order in February when he tried to lure the two 14-year-olds into a sauna at the Sovereign Leisure Centre in Eastbourne.

Anne Toynbee, prosecuting, said Jenks had propped open the door to the sauna with a plastic bottle.

She said: "He beckoned to the girls through the window and invited them in by saying, 'come in, come in'."

Miss Toynbee said retired headmaster Jonathan Annis alerted centre staff after becoming suspicious about Jenks' behaviour.

He told them he had seen Jenks acting strangely during visits to the centre over the previous five weeks.

Mrs Toynbee said: "He decided to watch Jenks closely and saw him spending prolonged periods around the family changing area of the pool.

"At one stage Jenks began to walk away and then changed direction to follow the girls. He then went into the cubicle next to the girls but did not change."

After he was arrested, Jenks claimed it was the first time he had been to the Sovereign Centre for years.

He said that because of the ban he had tried to find out which leisure centres only allowed adults into the saunas so that he could avoid contact with anyone under 18.

He denied speaking to the two girls and claimed he had called out to two adults nearby to tell them to keep the girls away.

Jenks also told officers he had gone to the family changing area to change his trunks because they were uncomfortable.

He said he had done that to avoid coming into contact with young boys in the open-plan male changing area.

Miss Toynbee said that Jenks was in breach of the Sopo by having contact with the girls.

The court heard that Jenks was jailed for two years in 1997 for gross indecency with young girls.

In one case he asked a girl to pour water over him in a sauna at Southwick Leisure Centre and then commited an indecent act in front of her.

Jenks was also jailed for six years in 1997 for indecently assaulting a boy and a girl on Southwick beach.

He was released on licence in 2002 but was rearrested less than a year later for indecently exposing himself in front of two 13-year-old girls at Camber Sands, near Rye. Jeffrey Lamb, defending, said Jenks realised that he has a problem and that he is taking part in a sex offenders' programme.

He had admitted breaching the Sopo to avoid putting the girls through the ordeal of having to give evidence.

Jenks had previously been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life and the Sopo remains in force until 2014.

He is considered a Category 3 high risk offender and will be subject to supervision under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements when he is released from prison.

Jailing him, Judge Anthony Niblett told Jenks: "You are a prolific and predatory paedophile.

"I am satisfied that you were attempting to entice two young girls to join you in the sauna. This was a planned and pre-meditated attempt reflecting one of your earlier offences.

"I have no doubt that you are a continuing danger to children."

He commended Mr Annis's actions in alerting centre staff to the dangers Jenks posed saying it "prevented a serious offence from being committed".