POLICE in Jersey have closed their inquiry into a sex offender believed to be on the run in France after skipping bail following his conviction for child porn offences.

Officers say the man and his girlfriend - thought to be Gerald Hayslop and Louise Howarth-Lee - are no longer regarded as missing despite no confirmed sightings since their disappearance from a Jersey campsite sparked a huge search.

And as the couple are not wanted for any crimes in the Channel Islands police have tied up their investigation.

But officers in Lancashire are continuing to prepare a European arrest warrant for Hayslop, who is believed to have kayaked 12 miles to France.

Chief Insp John Sculthorp, from the States of Jersey Police, said: "The States of Jersey Police can confirm that they have closed their inquiry into the couple who went missing from a local campsite last month.

"The States of Jersey Police believe that the missing campers are now in France.

"It is believed that the missing campers are Louise Howarth-Lee and Gerard Heyslop of Lancashire.

"The couple are not wanted for any offences in Jersey, and are no longer regarded as missing.

"Lancashire Police have been advised of this development."

Officers in Lancashire are carrying out DNA tests to see whether Hayslop, 26, is one of the two missing kayakers, after being told of the case by the Lancashire Telegraph.

Hayslop's father, Gerard Snr, received a phone call from his estranged son claiming that he was in Lyon and desperately needed cash.

Mr Hayslop, of Hollingreave Road, Burnley, said his son told him that he had travelled to Jersey before making his way to France on a kayak to avoid the French authorities and escape Britain.

Police are preparing a European arrest warrant if the DNA matches that of Hayslop.

Tests are currently being carried out on belongings left by a couple calling themselves Andrew Keeble and Hannah Tye at a Jersey campsite before they disappeared.

They were last seen at the campsite where they were staying in mid-August and their disappearance sparked sea and air searches off the coast of Jersey after they told campers they were going kayaking.

Witnesses in Hatainville, Normandy, said that they had seen two "exhausted" kayakers paddling to shore the weekend that the pair disappeared.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "He is wanted on a bench warrant issued by a court and this is not recognised over there.

"There needs to be a European warrant which we will apply for once we have established it is him.

"We have the DNA of anybody who comes through custody in Burnley we would have their DNA samples and if there is any evidence we will be able to positively identify them."