A PAEDOPHILE loner who used his camera phone to take indecent pictures of a four-year-old Doncaster girl walked free from court after a judge decided he needed treatment.
Alexander Lee Flintham, described as ‘friendless’, was also found to have hundreds of pornographic pictures and videos of children on his computers when police raided his parents’ home in Kirk Sandall.
The 30-year-old admitted a total of 12 charges of making and possessing indecent images when he appeared at Doncaster Crown Court, but Judge Jacqueline Davies decided not to jail him.
“This is an extremely difficult case and you should go to prison,” she said. “I have thought long and hard about your case and I have reached the view the only way to address your problems is to make you the subject of a community order for three years.”
Flintham, of Tarleton Close, will attend a one-to-one sex offender programme and the judge demanded quarterly reports so she can check his progress, with a warning that he will go to jail if he defaults.
He has also been placed on a 7pm to 6am curfew for three months and a Sexual Offences Prevention Order was imposed.
University-educated Flintham was said to have had a ‘long-standing’ problem with seeking sexual gratification by looking at hard-core child porn.
Prosecutor Neil Coxon said almost 340 images of varying grades of indecency were found on his computers but the worst discovery when police checked his phone were two images he had taken on his phone of a four-year-old girl with whom he had come into contact.
“The defendant accepted he was excited at the prospect of finding such images and the thrill of finding them was his motivation, and he knew it was illegal.”
Defence counsel Kath Goddard said Flintham had not distributed the pictures, nor actively encouraged the four-year-old to pose for him, but had taken advantage when an opportunity presented itself.
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