Eagle-eyed police officers carrying out a seatbelt check on motorists in Oxford yesterday caught a wanted sex offender.

The four-hour operation in Botley Road, West Oxford, netted nearly 50 motorists who had not belted up – and a man in his 50s on the sex offenders' register who had failed to tell police about a change of address.

The man, who police have refused to name for his own safety, was spotted after his description had been circulated among officers.

He was detained at Abingdon police station and charged with failing to comply with the requirements of the sex offenders' register.

He will appear at a magistrates' court in the county sometime over the next few weeks.

A police spokesman said: "This person is quite vulnerable, although he is low risk.

“We had been in contact with him before over the phone to tell him he needed to come in and sign the register.

"He is not a high-risk offender and had not been missing for weeks and months.

“We will not be releasing his name or address for his own safety."

Police would not comment on the offence the man had originally committed.

The safety check, which operated around the Seacourt park-and-ride site between 8am and noon, involved one officer acting as an undercover 'spotter' to alert uniformed police to law-breaking drivers.

Pc Mark Pilling, the road safety constable for Oxfordshire, praised his colleagues for noticing the wanted man and said: "The majority of people were stopped for seatbelt offences, but we also arrested a wanted sex offender.

“His ID had been circulated to police as being a wanted man."

The operation was part of a week-long clampdown on seatbelt offenders throughout the county which had previously visited Kidlington, Banbury, Bicester and Abingdon.

Yesterday, 47 people were spotted without a seatbelt, two people were caught using their mobile phones while driving and one person was pulled over for allowing two colleagues to ride in the back of his tipper truck.