A SEX offender living at York's controversial probation hostel was caught talking to local children - despite a court order banning him from making such contact.

Richard Freshwater's sex offender order, imposed by Cambridge magistrates in 2001, was intended to prevent him grooming children for sex acts.

But York Crown Court heard how Freshwater, 25, broke the ban for the fifth time in May when he repeatedly spoke to a group of ten- and eleven-year-old boys by the nearby River Ouse in Clifton.

The case has rekindled concerns raised by local residents in 2002 after the Evening Press revealed that Government rule changes meant the hostel could house serious offenders, including paedophiles.

Prosecutor David Garnett said that Freshwater had been living at the Southview hostel, in Boroughbridge Road, after being released from a jail sentence imposed in December for breaching the ban last year.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, jailing Freshwater for 21 months, said he was "quite indifferent" to the order's restrictions. "You are going to carry on doing it," he said. "The only way to protect the public is by locking you up."

The court heard the order was imposed in Cambridge at the request of the police after Freshwater had served a sentence of at least four years for sex offences.

Freshwater, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to breaching the order in York.

His barrister, Andrew Semple, said he had not made any sexual approaches to the boys, and claimed he had only spoken to them on one day. He had gone to the river bank to get away from the hostel.

The barrister agreed when the judge said Freshwater went to the riverside to smoke cannabis, which was forbidden in the hostel.

Local councillors and residents expressed concern today about the Freshwater case.

Sue Roberts, of Malvern Avenue, who wrote to the Evening Press to express her concerns about the hostel in 2002, said this incident was just the sort of thing that people had been worried might happen.

"I still don't think this was the right place to place this sort of offender," she said. "There are an awful lot of children in the area."

Holgate councillor Martin Bartlett said today he planned to get in touch with the hostel to discuss what had happened.

"It's a matter of great concern," he said.

"What people want to know is what are the supervisory arrangements, particularly for cases such as this?"

Sally Lester, assistant chief officer with North Yorkshire Probation Area, said it had been an isolated incident.

She said Freshwater had been placed at the hostel on release from prison to ensure he could be monitored and supervised, and this posed considerably less risk than simply releasing him straight into the community.

She said residents at the hostel were free to come and go during the day, and it was up to the police under multi-agency public protection arrangements to decide whether they should be placed under surveillance.

The Evening Press asked North Yorkshire Police if the force would release a picture of Freshwater, but they declined.

Updated: 10:43 Tuesday, August 17, 2004