A sex offender has admitted fleeing to Speyside after his secret past was discovered.
Ian Philip, who is originally from Lincolnshire, was jailed for three years in 2016 after he admitted possessing more than 10,000 indecent images of children.
However, when his employer learned of his criminal past on April 30 this year he was sacked, which also cost him his home which was linked to the job.
The 60-year-old was eventually discovered staying with a friend in Aberlour’s Mary Avenue on May 24 after a police search.
Yesterday Philip, who is now of no fixed abode, was sentenced to unpaid work at Elgin Sheriff Court after he admitted to failing to tell police about his change of address within the three days he is required to as part of sexual offences prevention order.
After being arrested, he told officers: “I lost my job. People were looking for me. I just sort of ran away.”
Defence solicitor Kevin Anderson explained his client had been sleeping in a tent on a beach before being contacted by his friend in Aberlour.
Philip was sentenced to 160 hours of unpaid work and placed under supervision for a year.
Sex offender fled to Moray after secret past was discovered
