A PAEDOPHILE pensioner could be back on the streets of Colchester within days.

John Drury broke the terms of a sex ban by speaking to three young girls in the town centre last November.

The 86-year-old was jailed for eight months, but as he has been in custody since his arrest, he has served most of the sentence.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard how the convicted paedophile would have served half of the eight-month sentence before he was released.

But as he has been on remand for 117 days, he has served the equivalent of nearly four months.

Recorder Patricia Lynch QC told Drury it would have been a longer prison sentence if the matter had been more serious.

Drury had not upset or distressed the girls and they only realised something was wrong when police spoke to them later on, the judge said.

There had been no improper behaviour and he had only asked the girls if they had pressed the button at a road crossing.

Drury’s guilty plea to breaking the conditions of the order had also saved the girls the ordeal of giving evidence in a trial, the court heard.

The pensioner, from Mersea Road, Colchester, had been due to face trial accused of breaking the terms of the sexual offences prevention order.

But when he appeared in court, the former RAF electrician admitted the matter.

Katrina Jamieson, prosecuting, said Drury had been banned under the order from speaking to any child under the age of 16.

The order had been granted after police became concerned over Drury's behaviour after he was released from a prison sentence for abusing little girls.

On November 10 last year – two months after the order was imposed – Miss Jamieson said the three girls aged 12 were waiting at a pelican crossing with seven or eight members of the public in Queen Street at around 3.45pm.

Drury was seen to ask the girls if they had pressed the button to cross the road and when one of them said yes, he replied “press it again it will go faster”.

Police in the area at the time arrested Drury after he was seen talking to the girls, Miss Jamieson told the court.

David Howell, mitigating, said none of the girls involved had been upset, shocked or distressed in any way.

Recorder Lynch told Drury: “Keep away from young children. Do not talk to them, do not look at them.”