Paedophile struck as soon as he was freed

Michael Croney had his four-year jail term cut to a three-year community rehabilitation order, despite warnings that he posed a high risk to children.

Then, just three days later he exposed himself to a 12-year-old girl who was waiting at a bus stop in Gateshead with her 13-year-old friend.

The youngster ran to a nearby friend's home and the father of the household was able to note Croney's car registration number after seeing him disappear into an alleyway.

He was arrested but denied the offence.

The youngster had to pick him out of an identity parade and give evidence against him in court before he finally pleaded guilty to indecency towards a child.

Yesterday Croney, of Deneside, Medomsley, Consett, County Durham, was given a four-year jail sentence at Newcastle Crown Court.

Judge Richard Lowden said the Court of Appeal had been wrong to revoke the four-year term the 35-year-old received after exposing himself to youngsters in Guildford, Surrey.

Judge Lowden said he was confident that if Croney received a short sentence he would "no doubt commit the same offences immediately again".

He was sentenced at the Old Bailey on September 28 last year after pleading guilty to five charges of indecency towards children, one of indecent exposure and one of threatening or insulting behaviour.

He was freed in February following an appeal.

Law lords decided the sentence was excessive in the light of his admissions to the police.

A public protection unit report had said that although Croney posed a "high risk of re-offending in a similar way" and was a "high risk of harm to the public", probation officers were confident that he could be "safely managed".

But Judge Lowden told him: "Sadly, that did not prove to be so. "In the light of your re-offending, there can be no question of going down that sort of course again."

Croney, who has been married twice and has a girlfriend, will be registered as a sex offender for life.