Judge warns Leeds sex offender after second conviction for downloading vile child images

Dane Leach was first convicted of making indecent images of a child when he was aged just 15 in 2017.

Leeds Crown Court heard how he was made the subject of a community and given a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) in a bid to prevent him reoffending.

Leach, now aged 20, was arrested at his home in Leeds for a second time in December 2020 after police received information that illegal images were being accessed from the address.

Officers seized a laptop which contained more than 400 images of children aged between one and 16.

A total of 154 images were at category A - the most serious level of offending.

Jessica Strange, prosecuting, said Leach was also in breach of his SHPO, which had been put in place in May 2018, as he had deleted his internet browsing history.

Leach, of Carlton Gate, Sheepscar, Leeds, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child and one of breach of a SHPO.

In 2018 he was made the subject of a youth referral order after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child, possessing extreme and prohibited images and distributing indecent child images.

Judge Tom Bayliss QC told Leach: "You are on the verge of becoming an incorrigible paedophile. But you are still yet 20."

"The court has to have regard to the protection of the public.

"The sort of (prison) sentence I would be able to impose would not be such as would have the best chance of stopping you behaving in this way.

"What I am doing in order to deter you and protect the public in the future is to make a community order."

During the three-year order, Leach much attend a sexual offending programme and complete 55 rehabilitation activity requirement days."

Judge Bayliss added: "By accessing images which, not to put too fine a point on it, involve the sexual abuse of children, you provide a market for it.

"These are very serious offences.

"If you come before the courts again then there will be no excuse.

"There will be no suggestion that a judge might make an order to help you to overcome your sexual deviancy.

"You will go to prison, as night follows day, and you will go to prison for a very long time."