A convicted paedophile banned from dressing up as a vicar has been jailed for wearing a dog collar to a pub.

Trevor Norkett, who was ordered by a court not to dress as a clergyman after he used the disguise to get close to children, once tricked mourners at a friend's funeral in Eastbourne by donning a dog collar and conducting the service.

Norkett, 42, of Byron Street, Hove, was banned from owning or wearing clerical clothing in 1999 following his conviction for two offences of gross indecency with a child in Norwich.

Norkett admitted at Lewes Crown Court breaching the sex offender's order and obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception by failing to reveal his previous convictions when he applied for an office job with the Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company in October last year.

Rob Hall, prosecuting, told the court British Transport Police started an investigation in May and Norkett was seen in the Marlborough pub, in Brighton, dressed as a vicar and claiming he was a lay preacher. The clothes belonged to a flatmate who was a member of the church.

The court heard Norkett had already breached the order three other times before, including once when he wore the dog collar at the funeral. He was jailed for that breach in January last year for two years, which was reduced to a one-year sentence on appeal.

Alissa Scott-Beckett, defending, said Norkett lied on the job application form because he could not get work when employers found out about his past. She said he worked for the bus company for five months until he was arrested.

She said his mother died in October last year and he started wearing clerical clothing for comfort.

She said: "It is not for sexual gratification or to attract children. He does it to make friends. The clerical clothes are like a comfort blanket."

Judge Richard Brown jailed Norkett for two years for breaching the order and lying on the application form.

He told him: "The purpose of the order was to attempt to prevent you gaining access to groups of vulnerable people, including young people, whose trust you gained in the past by virtue of your clerical disguises."