Pervert who took photographs of schoolgirls walking on Leeds streets is jailed

Christopher Ainslie, 55, kept the images in a folder labelled 'my street girls' on an Olympus camera hidden in his loft, Leeds Crown Court heard.

A judge jailed Ainslie, of Broadway, Halton, Leeds, for 18 months after hearing he had breached a court order imposed in 2016.

Mehran Nassiri, prosecuting said that the Sexual Harm Prevention Order he breached was made after Ainslie was previously convicted of three offences of possessing indecent images.

In April 2019, police received information that an Internet Protocol (IP) address linked to Ainslie's home had indecent images of children available for sharing.

Police went to Ainslie's address with a search warrant on July 3.

Police searched the house and found three hard drives, two USB sticks, two memory cards and two mobile phones, all hidden in the loft.

Officers retrieved a total of nine category A images and videos, the most serious category.

They also retrieved a total of nine category B images and videos, seven category C videos and 3,570 category C images.

Mr Nassiri said a total of 250,822 images were not categorised or graded by police.

Mr Nassiri said there were also a number of still and moving images showing young schoolgirls walking on streets in east Leeds in a folder labelled 'my street girls' on an Olympus camera.

Ainslie admitted breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and three charges of possessing indecent images of children.

James Littlehales, mitigating, said: "He is effectively the carer for his wife. She has substantial reduced mobility.

"She is entirely disgusted with his behaviour, but she has stood by him."

Mr Littlehales said the couple plan to move out of the area.

Jailing Ainslie for 18 months, Judge Neil Clark told him he had lied to his wife and the authorities, adding: "This offending is so so serious that it must be met with an immediate sentence of imprisonment."

Judge Clarke made Ainslie the subject of a ten year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and said his name will be on the sex offender register for ten years.