Special-needs Leeds paedophile swapped hundreds of abuse images with like-minded perverts
A pervert who collected thousands of child-abuse images and swapped them with likeminded padoephiles has avoided custody.
Lee Bradley was spared jail because of he had special needs, but was warned it was “only by a whisker”.
The 20-year-old was found with more than 2,600 images stored, including huge amounts of videos of Category A material, depicting the most serious abuse and rape of children, including toddlers.
But he had also traded nearly 500 images with other perverts online, asking in return for videos and images of “young black boys” being abused.
He came to the attention of West Yorkshire Police last year after an indecent image was uploaded to Snapchat, Leeds Crown Court was told.
They went to his address and arrested him, as well as seizing his internet devices.
They found over 1,000 images and videos in Category A, over 1,000 in Category B and nearly 700 in Category C.
They involved the horrific abuse of children as young as two. They also found prohibited images of children and images of extreme pornography involving animals.
They found abuse searches and online chats with other perverts in which they discussed their vile abuse fantasies and swapped images. He sent 473 images in total.
During his interview Bradley said he had no memory of sending the images or the conversations.
Bradley, of Dorset Terrace, Harehills, admitted three counts of possession of indecent images, three of distributing, one of possessing prohibited images and one of possessing extreme images. He has no previous convictions.
Mitigating, Ian Hudson said Bradley has learning difficulties that affects his memory.
He said as a youngster it took him more than 18 months to learn his route to school.
He asked the judge to give Bradley the opportunity to receive help.
Judge Penelope Belcher relented, but told Bradley: “You knew you were accessing indecent images of children and distributing to others.
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
She gave him a two-year community order with 25 rehabilitation days and 120 hours of unpaid work to complete.
He was put on the sex offender register for five years and given a five-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to allow his internet use to be monitored.