A THUG who kicked a paedophile to death was revealed to be a convicted sex offender himself.

Adrian Brown broke into the rundown home of 73-year-old Arnold Hartley and stamped on his head repeatedly before throttling him in a drink-fuelled attack.

The 42-year-old, from Redcar, later laughed about the attack, boasting to friends that all child molesters should be 'put down.'

But behind the sadistic boasts, Brown had a guilty secret of his own.

Newcastle Crown Court was told the killer had a string of convictions for crimes stretching back three decades - including one for a sex assault on a teenage girl.

A jury of six men and six women took under four hours to convict Brown of murder.

The heavily tattooed Brown, who denied the charge, stood expressionless in the dock as the jury foreman returned the unanimous verdict.

Jailing Brown for life, with a recommendation he serve at least 14 years, Mr Justice Fulford said: "The seriousness of what you did is not in any way lessened by the sordid way of life the person you killed led.

"The fact he was a convicted paedophile who preyed on young teenage girls does not begin to give you any justification for assaulting and killing him."

The sentence was handed down on Wednesday - the day the Government released figures that showed there are 1,637 registered sex offenders living in the North-East and North Yorkshire.

Brown's victim was jailed in October 2001 after being convicted of a series of sex attacks on teenage girls. After his release from prison, he returned to his home in Queen Street, Redcar, and was subjected to a vigilante hate campaign, which included bricks being thrown threw his windows.

Brown broke into his home during the early hours of November 29 last year, after drinking heavily the previous evening. He punched the pensioner in the face several times then repeatedly stamped on his face and neck before strangling him.

Even as a friend tried to drag the defendant away, he continued to stamp on the pensioner's head.

Brown shouted: "He deserved it. He's a paedophile. He deserves everything he gets."

He then rifled through the old man's pockets and stole some money before fleeing.

A few days after the murder, Brown laughed about what he had done and boasted to a friend: "All paedophiles should suffer the same. They all deserve it, they want putting down."

Defence barrister Aidan Marron said the offence was not premeditated.

The court was told how Brown was convicted at Grimsby Crown Court of the indecent assault of a girl under the age of 14 and sent to borstal when he was 16 years old.

He was later jailed for three-and-a-half years at York Crown Court in 1995 for slashing a shopkeeper with a knife.

A Cleveland Police spokesman said: "Arnold Hartley was a convicted sex offender and some people like Adrian Brown thought that gave them the right to subject him to abuse and attack.

"Mr Hartley was a sad old man, whose latter life was made a misery. Adrian Brown is a thug and a bully. He thought he could attack Mr Hartley with impunity and the public would turn a blind eye to his crime. He was wrong."

Home Office figures show a rise in registered sex offenders living in local communities.

Cleveland went up from 303 to 339 and North Yorkshire from 234 to 283. Officials said the rise was due to new offenders being detected and required to register as sex offenders under Government legislation.