Serial sex offender (75) who had previously abused fellow resident in care home is sent back to jail

Alexander Reynolds claimed he was trying to find his niece’s house when discovered wandering in the middle of the road last week.

The pensioner had just been released from prison days earlier after serving a sentence for sexually assaulting a vulnerable resident at their care home in the city.

Reynolds, who has now amassed more than 200 previous convictions, received a further two-month term at Belfast Magistrates’ Court today.

He pleaded guilty to breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) by being intoxicated in public on April 15.

Prosecutors said a member of the public alerted police to a drunk man walking unsteadily down the middle of the Shore Road.

He identified himself as Reynolds and stated that he was looking for his niece’s house, but had no further details.

Reynolds was then arrested for violating the terms of his SOPO.

He provided his address as being a care home in south Belfast, but staff confirmed that he no longer lives there.

Earlier this month he was handed a three-month sentence for targeting a woman at those facilities on February 22.

A member of staff had overheard him ask the victim to perform a sexual act on him.

Despite her refusal, Reynolds was then spotted holding the woman by the arm with her hand placed inside his trousers.

Due to the time already served behind bars on remand, he was released days later.

Reynolds had received a further suspended sentence last week after being found drunk and injured in the city centre within hours of his release.

Defence solicitor John Murphy told the court that social services will now have to help his client obtain new accommodation.

“He has considerable alcohol problems, and the breaches invariably relate to that,” Mr Murphy added.

Imposing a total of two months custody, District Judge George Conner said: “It’s in the hope that this will give a bit of time for (accommodation) to be sorted out.