A CONVICTED sex offender who imported an illegal weapon to protect himself from 'county line' bullies has been jailed.

Regan Charlton was caught after customs officers intercepted the package which was on its way from China to an address of a friend of the defendant.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 20-year-old had already been convicted of a similar offence and was serving a suspended sentence when he ordered the extendable baton.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said: "He made full admissions to that offence and had attempted to buy the item because he was being bullied and was going to use the weapon to protect himself.

"He said he posted it to someone else because he had already been in trouble for ordering a baton before."

Charlton also pleaded guilty to an offence of theft and criminal damage after he stole some headphones from the B&M store in Stockton and smashed a hand scanner belonging to the company when a member of staff tried to apprehend him.

He told police that he was hoping to pawn the goods to buy food as he was homeless.

The court that Charlton was already serving suspended sentences for illegally importing a baton, assault and for sharing a malicious message online when he branded a former friend as a 'nonce'.

The registered sex offender, who was sentenced for having sex with an underage girl, also admitted failing to comply with his notification requirements.

The offences were failing to notify of an address where he stayed for 12 hours or more while a child was present, failing to notify police of his Facebook nickname 'Reggie' and failing to notify passport details.

In mitigation, Michele Turner, said her client had the look of a victim due to his small stature and young-looking features and that made him an easy target for people involved in 'county lines' drug supply operations.

She said: "His spell in custody has been a wake up call for him and he has realised that custody is not the place that he wants to be."

Judge Paul Watson QC told Charlton that he was revoking all of the previous suspended sentences before sending him into custody for a total of ten months.

He said: "The court has finally run out of options as far as you are concerned.

"In January, in Derby, you were given a sentence for assault that was suspended for two years.

"It wasn't long before you were back before the court again and given a further suspended sentence.

"In May you received yet another suspended sentence for assault and in August you were given a community order for a similar offence of importing a prohibited weapon.

"What I'm going to do to try and encourage you to continue making progress with the authorities is sentence you to a total of ten months."