A CONVICTED paedophile with more than 140 offences to his name has been jailed for two years after befriending an Oxfordshire family and stealing their car.

Phillip Topp, of no fixed abode, was sentenced for seven counts of sexually assaulting a child in 1999 and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

At Oxford Crown Court on Monday, Recorder Rabinder Singh said Topp had moved to Oxfordshire at the start of the year and had been “befriended by a family in the Witney area”.

The family allowed the 49-year-old to stay at their home on occasions. However, they were out on May 28 when he went round.

Having found the back door unlocked, Topp let himself in and took the spare keys for the family’s car and drove to Devon.

He twice filled up with petrol without paying for it.

At an earlier hearing, Topp admitted burglary, driving a vehicle while disqualified, driving without insurance and two counts of making off without payment.

Following his arrest, police found Topp had failed to tell officers in Exeter, Devon, of his movements with regard to the sex offenders’ register and he admitted failing to comply with the order for the seventh time.

He was also given eight penalty points on his driving licence.