A convicted paedophile is back behind bars after flouting sex-offender regulations and being found with indecent child images on his phone.

When police entered Michael McAuliffe’s home in November last year they found four indecent images of boys aged ten to 11-years-old.

In addition, the mobile phone itself and a Wifi device found in a shoebox were against a sexual offences prevention order he was subject to.

Bradford Crown Court heard that McAuliffe, 54, of Clarendon Street, Haworth, had also failed to register a bank account and the name of an alias he used, in line with rules around registering as a sex offender.

McAuliffe admitted the four charges and was sentenced to a total of nine months in prison.

Prosecutor Louise Pryke told the court that McAuliffe had been “non compliant, abusive and obstructive” to police.

Officers visited McAuliffe’s home after a tip off from the Metropolitan Police that the defendant had not registered a bank account, she said.

The officer found a mobile phone under a duvet and a mini wifi device, as well as paperwork and cards in the name of Ashley Thomas.

The images on the phone were found to be of category three - the lowest level of seriousness.

She added that McAuliffe had been convicted of 21 offences of possessing illegal images of children in 2006, as well as eight similar offences the following year.

He was then jailed for three years and eight months in 2014 for 21 offences of distributing and possessing indecent images of children.

Derek Duffy, defending, said McAuliffe had suffered abuse as a boy and had an ongoing dispute with police over these allegations and a lack of any prosecution.

He added that the charges of not registering an alias and a bank account, were a technicality as the account was opened with the help of probation when he left prison and the alias had been one he had used for 40 years.

“It’s difficult to see how he can be accused of hiding this, when he voluntarily disclosed the account to the police in London,” Mr Duffy told the court.

He added that the images found were “old” ones and that McAuliffe was in fact in dispute with internet service providers about the inclusion of material on sites.

“He has suffered gravely over the years and he believes can get no recompense for it,” he added.

Judge David Hatton QC said there was no “sinister concealment” over the lack of registering. He added that there was no evidence the images were recent and he was not satisfied the internet device was solely for the purpose of committing offences.