A SERIAL offender hid his murky past after moving in with a partner he met via an Internet dating site.

David Roberts told the mother-of-two that he had been jailed for violence – in reality he had been locked up for ten years in 2004 for sexually abusing a child.

However, the woman spoke to police about her mounting suspicions after he asked for a photo of her daughter in a prom outfit and had been “over-enthusiastic” in wanting to decorate her room.

The police then discovered that he had breached his sex offenders’ licence without telling them of his change of address and that two teenage girls were living there, said prosecutor Ceri Harrison at Southampton Crown Court.

Roberts, of Jessamine Road, Shirley Warren, Southampton, admitted the breach and was jailed for 12 months.

Judge Derwin Hope heard that Roberts had committed 65 previous offences.

In mitigation, Tim Dracass said there was no suggestion of sexual grooming or the children being harmed.