A convicted sex offender who got jobs as a carer and a support worker for vulnerable children and adults in Ipswich and Essex after lying on job application forms about his criminal record has been jailed for 30 months.

Gibson Idehen, who was jailed for five years in 2006 after being convicted in Belgium of child sex offences including rape, earned more than £25,000 after failing to mention his convictions when applying for jobs with care agencies, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

In addition to lying about his convictions for sex offences Idehen failed to mention he’d also received jail sentences in Belgium in 1994 for forgery and drug supply, said Robert Bryan, prosecuting.

The court heard that in 2017 Idehen was employed as a support worker for 14 vulnerable men in Thorrington, Essex after lying on a job application form about his past.

In November 2019 he took on jobs in two care homes for vulnerable adults with dementia and learning difficulties after lying on a Colchester recruitment agency’s job application form.

In October 2019 he completed an Ipswich recruitment agency application form without mentioning his previous convictions and obtained a job as a child support worker, said Mr Bryan.

He’d also gained work at five establishments in Essex after lying on further application forms in December 2019 and in January last year he got a job at a residential care home in Brightlingsea after lying on another form.

After his arrest Idehen said he hadn’t committed any offences in the UK and didn’t think it was necessary to mention his previous convictions in Belgium.

The court heard that DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks failed to show Idehen’s convictions In Belgium because the UK authorities weren’t aware of them at the time.

Idehen, 55, of Rouse Way, Colchester, admitted five offences of fraud.

Simon Connolly for Idehen said that by the time his client came to the UK to be with his wife and children and to pursue a life here his sentences in Belgium had come to an end.

He said Idehen had worked long hours at relatively low pay and had earned the £25,000 he was paid.

He said there was no evidence that any actual harm had been caused to anyone during the course of the work he had fraudulently obtained.