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Child sex offender loses claim for damages after being sent back to jail

A child sex offender who was sent back to jail when a sniffer dog indicated cannabis was in his hostel room has lost a bid for financial damages.

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Donald Burton of Worcester Road, Dudley, was recalled to prison for a further 17 months after the dog sniffed out the remnants of spliffs in an ash tray.

Burton, aged 42, claimed there was no direct evidence he had been using drugs at the hostel in Stonnall Road, Aldridge, near Walsall, following his release from jail for sex crimes.

He had been jailed for seven years, with an extended licence period of three years, at Birmingham Crown Court in 2004.

But he claimed his recall was wrong and that he had been falsely imprisoned by the Ministry of Justice when he appeared at the High Court on Wednesday.

Burton had vehemently denied using drugs at the hostel but admitted he had taken cannabis in the past and may have used his leaf-shaped ashtray.

Mr Stephen Field, defending, said Burton was eventually released again on May 11, 2009, having spent an extra 510 days in prison he should never have served.

The court heard that when Burton was released the parole board had concluded his recall had not been justified in the first place.

Mr Field said it meant his recall was unlawful and his incarceration during that time amounted to false imprisonment.

But Mr Justice William Davis rejected his claim for thousands of pounds in damages saying the Ministry of Justice officer who approved Burton's recall in December 2007 had been correct.

He said: "The crucial issue is whether there were reasonable grounds for concluding that he had been using cannabis at the premises.

"In my judgment, on the material placed before the relevant official, there were such reasonable grounds.

"The critical issue in this case must be answered against Mr Burton and he fails in his claim that there was any unlawfulness in his recall."

Burton had been convicted of a string of offences, including indecency with a child, unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault.

He was released to the hostel in November 2007 but was back behind bars before Christmas.

Hostel staff had called police suspecting that Mr Burton was using cannabis and a sniffer dog indicated the presence of drugs in the ash tray.

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