A CONVICTED paedophile from East Lancashire has been fined after being caught with a mobile phone capable of taking video or stills footage.

Paul Emsley, 45, of Ingham Street, Padiham, is banned from owning such technology under the terms of a life-long sexual offences prevention order (SOPO).

He admitted a charge of owning a prohibited item, after he was spoken to by police on October 10.

Burnley magistrates fined him £130 with £100 court costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Emsley, who has previously admitted to an obsession with pre-pubescent boys, and was said to have been abused himself in his younger years, has convictions for sexual assault and possessing indecent images.

The SOPO was imposed in 2008 and Emsley has already served a two-and-a-half year jail sentence for breaching the order.

He was caught with indecent images of young boys, on two mobile phones, when police raided his former home in Randall Street.