Lying Leeds paedophile twice caught with vile images and claimed he had no interest in children

Grant Mitchell was on bail after a first batch of the sickening pictures were found, when officers found a second cache. They involved abuse of children as young as five.

He was jailed for 16 months at Leeds Crown Court this week, having already been held on remand.

Judge Richard Mansell KC told the 31-year-old: "It flies in the face of the pre-sentence report that you say you have no sexual interest in children.

"I reject your explanation. You plainly have a sexual interest in young children. You made internet searches for this kind of material."

Mitchell, of Scotchman Lane, Morley, was initially arrested in March last year on suspicion of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, for which he remains under investigation.

But officers then found a series of category A images - the most serious - and category B. Having been released, he was arrested again in September and more images were found.

He was was arrested again in December on suspicion of further sexual offences, and remains under investigation for them also. He was remanded into custody at that stage.

He appeared in court this week via video link from HMP Leeds, where he admitted charges of making indecent images - 60 in total. He has no previous convictions.

Mitigating, Craig Sutcliffe said Mitchell was willing to "engage in any order by the court" and said that the probation services were "confident" they could work with him.

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He also pointed out that they were not child contact offences and there were only a "relatively small number of images".

As well as his jail term, Mitchell was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to limit his internet use and put on the sex offender register for 10 years.