A CONVICTED paedophile touched a five-year-old child in the street behind her mother’s back, York Crown Court heard.

Emma Downing, prosecuting, said Paul Hurworth, 57, was banned from contacting children under a court order designed to protect them from his activities.

Hurworth was topless when he saw the mother and child walking down an alleyway in Selby with the adult slightly ahead.

The court heard that after the woman had passed him, he deliberately approached the youngster, spread out his arms and when the child stopped, touched her shoulder.

He then walked off.

“The mother was entirely unaware of what had happened as it happened literally behind her back,” said Ms Downing.

Hurworth has previous convictions for sexually abusing children and was subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) banning him from any contact with youngsters.

“You deliberately approached the girl when the woman’s back was turned,” Judge Simon Hickey told Hurworth.

“I am concerned about your behaviour,” said the judge.

“Your sentence must inevitably be an immediate custodial sentence for this breach.”

It was not the first time the paedophile had breached the order.

Hurworth, of Ousegate, Selby, pleaded guilty to breaching the SHPO.

He was jailed for 12 months.

The SHPO remains in force.

Defence barrister Victoria Smith-Swain said he had not harmed or distressed the girl and had admitted what he had done.

His sentence would be harder than in normal times because during the coronavirus pandemic, prisoners are confined to their cells 23 hours out of every 24.

Ms Downing said the alley was next to a hostel where people subject to court orders restricting their behaviour live, among others.

Hurworth had been living there since 2019.

He approached the girl at about 1.30pm on May 21.

After touching the girl, Hurworth walked off.

He did not touch the girl sexually.

The hostel has CCTV covering the alley.

Later that afternoon, a housing officer connected to the hostel checked it and realised what Hurworth had done, said the prosecution barrister.

Hurworth was arrested the next day.

He was convicted in 1981 of indecently assaulting a boy, in 2004 of indecently assaulting a girl, and of making a public nuisance in 2015.

He has previously served prison sentences for breaching the SHPO.

In 2017, he was jailed for 18 months when he approached a group of children sitting in a grassy area.

The court heard that in 2019, he was jailed for six months for three breaches of the order involving a boy.