A PAEDOPHILE has been jailed after he moved in with a single Taunton mother and her two children in breach of court order.

Lee Savage was supposed to be living in a bail hostel in Cornwall or a flat in Plymouth after being freed from a prison sentence.

Instead he spent at least six nights a week with the Taunton woman before her sister became suspicious and checked him out on the internet.

The mother was horrified to learn he had three convictions for grooming children or downloading child abuse images. She believed he had been in jail for texting an underage girl.

She wrote a victim impact statement saying she felt broken and worried how she would ever be able to trust anyone else.

Savage had known the woman for years but only started a relationship while serving a six-year sentence. He was released in March 2020.

He started visiting her in her home, despite Covid lockdown restrictions and his address being registered with police as in Cornwall, then Plymouth.

He moved into her home full-time two months later, returning to Plymouth once a week, which he claimed was for probation appointments.

He helped bath her children, aged under 10, and went on family outings with them. The mother was pregnant and he offered to babysit when she had midwifery appointments.

When her sister found details of Savage’s past on a paedophile hunting group website, the relationship ended. Savage’s probation officer then spotted a social media message they posted to warn off other mothers.

Savage, 41, previously of St Mary’s Street, Plymouth, admitted breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and the terms of the Sex Offenders’ Register and was jailed for two years by Judge Anna Richardson at Exeter Crown Court.

She told him there had been a risk of harm to the children even though nothing happened.

James Adams, prosecuting, said the offences happened between March and November 2020, when Savage was not allowed to sleep under the same roof as any child without permission from the police and social services.

He was also required to live at his registered address.

Evie Dean, defending, said Savage had been released from jail during the first Covid lockdown and needed the relationship to cope with the situation.

She said there was no suggestion of him having any sexual interest in the children and he was only alone with them on limited occasions. The mother was always present at bath time.