A SEX offender with a conviction for secretly filming children has been sentenced to 16 months in prison after he was spotted loitering around a public toilet.

Matthew Quirk was jailed for breaching the terms of a court order after he was seen by plain clothes policemen entering the toilets at Tesco at Langtree Park in January.

Last August Quirk had been given the Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) when he was seen acting suspiciously in The Range store in St Helens.

A mother made an allegation that the 31-year-old had followed her child into the toilets on two occasions.

Although he had not committed a criminal offence police took out a civil action against him because of his previous pattern of behaviour.

The SOPO was aimed at preventing him from entering any public toilet.

In a previous hearing at St Helens Magistrates’ Court, prosecutor Angela Blackmore explained that Quirk, from Phoenix Brow, was spotted by officers entering the toilets in Tesco.

He was arrested and admitted during interview that he had been “daft” going into the toilets because he was aware it breached his order.

Mrs Blackmore dismissed his excuse that he had been suffering from a stomach upset saying that he had spent several hours in St Helens prior to his visit to the supermarket, including time spent at his home address.

Court heard how Quirk accepted he was attracted to under age children and needed help and he didn’t want to put “anyone else in harm or have any more victims”.

Quirk, who has six convictions for 27 offences, nine of which are of a sexual nature, must also pay a £100 victim surcharge.