AN international hunt was under way last night for a North-East paedophile convicted of raping a ten-year-old girl.

George Galloway, 43, was believed to be on the run in Canada when he was convicted in his absence yesterday after a trial at Teesside Crown Court.

The jury had not been told he had jumped bail after tricking the authorities in a phone call from Heathrow Airport.

Galloway had been given permission to move from the North-East to Newquay, in Cornwall.

But three days before his trial, originally fixed for May last year, he rang his solicitors saying he was unable to catch a London to Teesside flight and was taking a coach.

Instead, he boarded a flight for New York JFK airport and later travelled to Canada.

On August 11, he flew from Toronto back to the US, but he was refused entry because his visa had expired and he was returned to Canada.

Interpol was notified on August 31, and Cleveland Police's intelligence bureau arranged for his picture to be circulated in Canada.

Judge John Welford told Teesside Crown Court yesterday that he would not sentence Galloway until he was caught, because he wanted reports on his future danger to the public.

The judge told the jury at the trial last week that Galloway had an obligation to be there, but that the case would go ahead without him. Galloway was represented by a barrister, Paul Newcombe, to test the evidence.

Christine Egerton, prosecuting, said that Galloway was alleged to have raped a ten-year-old girl and to have been indecently assaulting her since she was six.

She was 14 when she was travelling on a bus with a friend and pointed out Galloway. The friend persuaded her to repeat her allegations to her mother.

Investigations led the police to interview a second girl, who told them Galloway sexually abused her at his flat when she was 14.

Galloway admitted he took the girl to his flat, but he denied any sexual impropriety, said Miss Egerton.

The jury watched police video interviews with both girls, who are both now 16.

Galloway, formerly of Pinero Grove, Hartlepool, had previously pleaded not guilty to raping one girl, four charges of indecently assaulting her between the ages of six and ten, and also three charges of sexually abusing the second girl between 1996 and 2004.

He was found guilty of rape and four charges of indecent assault. The jury cleared him of three sexual offences against the second girl.