A COMPUTER TECHNICIAN has been jailed after a court heard how he fled the country while on the sex offenders register.

David Mawtus, 51, formerly of Lower Gwestydd Lane, Aberbechan, Newtown, was jailed for 20 months after he admitted breaching the register requirements by travelling abroad and changing address without informing police.

He also admitted breaching a three year community order – under which he was due to take part in a community sex offender programme.

Mawtus took annual leave, packed up his belongings, transferred £3,500 from his bank account and took a plane to Thailand to meet up with his wife and daughter.

Mold Crown Court heard he was not planning on coming back – but ended up in a jail in Thailand being fed on water and cabbage after an international warrant was issued for his arrest.

Judge Niclas Parry ordered him to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years and a 10 year sexual harm prevention order was made under which he is not to live in the same accommodation as girls under 16 or approach girls.

It also controls his internet use.

The judge said that he had been given a chance at York Crown Court in April of last year to follow a sex offender programme after indecent images were found on his computers.

Judge Parry, said: “It is right that it is in the public interest to try by appropriate training to reduce such offending and that is what the court tried to do.

“But it is also important for public perception and protection that the treatment is monitored.

“You deliberately chose to ignore the chance you had been given.”

Judge Parry added: “It was totally planned and premeditated.

“You took annual leave, cleared your bank account, and your property.

“There was no indication that you were coming back.”

The court heard how he was arrested in Scarborough for offences which dated back to 2013.

At York Crown Court in April 2016, he received the community order after he admitted possessing indecent images of children.

A police investigation was launched after his email address was found to have uploaded images of a child to a Russian web site – and he received more than 300 in return.

He admitted 11 charges of making indecent child images by downloading.

The court heard that he lost his job because of it and then got new employment in Sheffield and then in Newtown, the court heard.

Probation officers reported that he had not kept his appointments and when police checked his address they found it cleared out – although his car and some clothing remained.

Mawtus had to leave Thailand temporarily under the terms of his visa and was shocked to find that Malaysia would not allow him entry and Thailand then refused to have him back because of the outstanding warrant.

The defendant was held in prison for 50 days.

His wife, a Malaysian national, paid his £700 fare back to the UK rather than wait for extradition procedures – and he was arrested on his return to the UK earlier this month.