Police have captured a convicted sex offender who had been on the run for seven months and had camped out in woods near Trimley before being caught.

Mark Stevenson, aged 42, was convicted of rape and child abduction in 1996 and was wanted by Humberside police after he had failed to keep to his sex offender notification requirements.

Eagle-eyed Felixstowe police stopped a man as he walked along the main road in Trimley last Wednesday, January 6 after recognising from a wanted notice. After establishing his identity, Stevenson appeared in court on Thursday where he admitted breaching a notification order between May 10 last year and January 6 by either failing to notify authorities of a change of address or being of no fixed address.

Prosecutor Wayne Ablett told magistrates Stevenson was convicted in 1996 of rape and taking a child without lawful authority at Sheffield Crown Court and sentenced to seven years' custody.

As a registered sex offender, Stevenson was subject to a lifelong court order requiring him to notify police of any change of circumstances.

Mr Ablett said Stevenson told police he had been working in Hull until March, but quit his job, packed up and left, with no intention of returning, after a colleague found out about his past and he started receiving threats.

"He was staying in a tent in various locations and made his way from Grimsby to Suffolk," he added.

"He was sleeping in a tent in woodland in the Trimley St Mary area for one night prior to being arrested."

Mr Ablett invited magistrates to remand Stevenson in custody and commit the matter to the crown court for sentencing at a later date.

He said Stevenson had received a suspended prison sentence and a fine for previous breaches in Hull in 2013 and 2018.

Sue Threadkell, for Stevenson, made no representations.