A PAEDOPHILE who moved house several times in North Yorkshire and the North East after raping a 15-year-old girl has been jailed for ten years.

Warwick Crown Court heard police finally arrested Peter Reynolds in Teesside after his victim took matters into her own hands to track him down.

Grace Hale, prosecuting, said the girl had not felt police were doing enough to find Reynolds, following him travelling from his home in Harrogate to Rugby to carry out the attack in June 2014.

After the offence, Reynolds moved from house to house in Harrogate, and onto addresses in Scotland, before starting another home near Stockton.

The girl sent the 50-year-old a Facebook message, which led to him phoning her. The girl then passed Reynolds' number to detectives, who found him at a property in Eaglescliffe.

The court was told Reynolds had contacted the girl on a social media site and groomed her online for about a month before convincing her to meet up with him.

The matter was not reported to police until later that year as the girl had suffered "significant harm to her mental health".

Matthew Barnes, mitigating, said Reynolds took full responsibility for his actions and had pleaded guilty.

Reynolds, of Westway, London, was also sentenced to a further five years for four counts of making and distributing indecent images, and four years for one count of meeting after grooming online, to run concurrently.

DC Andy Holloway said: "The victim very bravely stood in the court and faced Reynolds whilst she read out her victim personal statement.

"This must have been incredibly difficult given the impact his actions had on her wellbeing. Her courage throughout in bringing him to justice has been remarkable."