Larkins, now 55, who was the subject of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's first case study in 2013, was last month jailed for a maximum of 12 months after he pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to comply with reporting obligations.

He has appealed against the severity of the jail term and appeared in Newcastle District Court on Friday to apply for bail pending a home detention assessment.

As a convicted sex offender, Larkins is on the Child Protection Register until at least 2028 and needs to comply with a list of regulations, including revealing all his internet accounts so authorities can keep tabs on his movements and notifying police of all of his child contacts.

But an inspection of his mobile phone in November last year revealed Larkins had failed to notify police of two online usernames.

Police had also been conducting an investigation as far back as September 2019 after a separate inspection revealed Larkins had two undisclosed child contacts. The two children, brothers aged 14 and 17, were friends with one of Larkins' family members, police facts state. Larkins was Facebook friends with the older boy and had been in ongoing contact with him, including having conversations of a sexual nature. Larkins had also sent the younger boy a Facebook friend request and invited him to go four-wheel-driving. Larkins received a similar sentence in Raymond Terrace Local Court in 2015 after he failed to tell authorities he was using two social media applications and for breaching a three-year good behaviour bond he received in 2012 for indecently assaulting two boys, aged 11 and 12, while he was a Scout leader in the 1990s.

He appealed against the severity of the jail term and, after serving 26 days behind bars, was given a 12-month suspended jail term.

In 2013, Larkins was jailed for 15 months for possessing child pornography and for forging documents so he could remain head of the children's service.

The Royal Commission case study, entitled The response of institutions to the conduct of Steven Larkins, outlines the failures of the Scouts organisation to take action against Larkins despite allegations of indecent assault and persistent rumours of his conduct.

And on Friday, the prosecution relied on the content of that case study during a bail application for Larkins, with DPP solicitor Dave O'Neill telling Judge Tim Gartelmann, SC, that the report outlined Larkins had been "involved in criminal matters involving children for a number of years" and remained an "unacceptable risk to the community".

Solicitor Kathryn Cooper had submitted that Larkins could be placed on a 12-month intensive corrections order with a home detention component, noting the condition that he wear an electronic monitoring bracelet would provide "significant protection of the community".

And she said Larkins weighed 180kg and suffered a number of health conditions. But Judge Gartelmann said in view of the content of the case study, the previous convictions for failing to comply with the conditions of the register and the attempts to contact or be in the company of a child meant there was a risk he would commit further offences.

"The conditions that are proposed would mitigate that risk but such is the pattern of conduct on the part of [Larkins] over a significant period of time that it remains unacceptable," he said.

He refused Larkins bail and adjourned the severity appeal until June 25 to see if Larkins is suitable to undergo home detention.