Elderly on-the-run abuser jailed

Robert Simpson Wallace is now Northern Ireland's eldest prisoner

A 78-year-old paedophile who was the subject of a manhunt after going on the run has been jailed for six years.

Robert Wallace - described as a serious risk to vulnerable women and children - left approved accommodation in February and was re-captured in Garvagh.

It was the second time in seven months he had absconded after his release from jail for abusing two young girls.

A Belfast Crown Court judge revoked his previous three year probation term and replaced it with six years in jail.

He also imposed a two-month consecutive term for breaching the sex offenders register.

The judge made a sexual offences prevention order which bans Wallace from ever being in the unsupervised company of a child or vulnerable adult.

He is now Northern Ireland's oldest prisoner.