A MISSING sex offender has handed himself in to police after seeing an appeal on the Lancashire Telegraph website.

Officers appealed for the public’s help in tracing Michael Andrew Smith, 29, from Burnley, after he failed to notify the authorities of a change of address.

Smith was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in 2011. He was given a 12 months suspended sentence, placed on a 12 months drug rehabilitation programme and placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

After the appeal Smith handed himself into a police station in Leeds at around 8pm on Wednesday.

He is now in custody in Burnley where he is under arrest in connection with failure to comply with notification requirements.