Paedophile from Leeds 'replaced' sexual interest in children with animals
He was caught with over 100 images of animals being abused
A convicted paedophile was told he has replaced his sexual interest in children for the sexual abuse of animals.
Daniel Freear was being closely monitored after a 2022 conviction for arranging a child sex offence.
The 51-year-old appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week where he admitted possessing extreme pornographic images, breaching the terms of the sex offender register and two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).
Freear avoided jail in 2022 after attempting to arrange to meet a child for sexual purposes, and was given a nine-month sentence suspended for 24 months.
He was put on the sex offender register and given the SHPO to allow officers to regularly check his internet history.
Prosecutor Beth Richardson said officers attended his address on February 10 last year, and found 135 images on his Samsung phone.
There was evidence he had returned several times to known bestiality sites over a two-month period. He initially claimed to have no knowledge of them and that he had been hacked.
Freear, of Webster Row, Upper Wortley, later confessed to having two other phones that he failed to register, putting him in breach of his SHPO.
He also forgot to confirm his address at the police station, putting him in breach of the sex offender register.
Mitigating, Stuart Field said Freear had a “cavalier” attitude to his compliance due to issues in his life, but said he had not returned to the offending which landed him in court in 2022.
He described him as a solitary man who was a hard worker.
Judge Penelope Belcher told him: “It’s concerning that while you have not returned to offences involving children, you appear to have replaced it with this.
“You did not take those requirements seriously, they are there for a good reason, to make sure there is control.
“They are not something to be disregarded or treated as unimportant.”
She said that while a probation report put Freear as a high risk of sexual offending, it was felt he could be managed in the community.
She gave him a 16-month sentence, suspended for two years, ordered him to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and 26 rehabilitation days with probation.