A MAN who had a ‘paedophile’s guide on how to abuse children’ stored on his computer has been jailed for 20 months.

Lee Randall also had a collection of fantasy stories he had written which referred to a particular child who he knew and wanted to sexually assault.

Police found the disturbing material when they searched the 36-year-old’s computer for indecent images of children after getting a tip off from Eastern Europe.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court police were first contacted by a file sharing website about postings made from his computer.

He said: “Police received intelligence from a Russian image sharing website about children - 149 comments were posted on an image sharing website indicating a sexual interest in children, and the name of a child in particular.

“The IP address led to this defendant whose various computers were seized and the images were as described: 140 odd images across the various categories.

“As well as this, it is clear that the defendant has been corresponding with others and describing in very graphic terms what they would wish to do to a child of a given name.”

He said Randall knew a child of that name and also had about 455 images of the little girl which had been cropped in a certain way.

Mr Meeke said that while they were not indecent or illegal they showed an unhealthy sexual interest in the child around whom he had build a fantasy world.

“There was another document: essentially a paedophile’s guide on how to abuse children, describing in obscene, graphic, details the correct steps to take to introduce a child to sexual behaviour,” said Mr Meeke.

Throughout questioning the defendant denied any wrongdoing or sexual interest in children saying his computer must have been hacked.

However Randall, formerly of Griffiths Close, pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

Chris Smyth, defending, said his client had deleted all of the images before his arrest and there was no evidence he had acted on his fantasies.

After serving four years in the army as an HGV driver, including a tour in Iraq, between 2000 and 2004 he has worked as a lorry driver and lived out of the area.

He said when he first spoke to probation he found it hard to admit what he had done but the second time he accepted he had a problem at the time of the offending.

Jailing him Judge Tim Mousley QC said: “You had a number of images of a young female. It is quite clear you had, perhaps still have, an obsession with her.

“I am satisfied it is a sexual obsession you had with her. She of course is known to you.

“That is a serious aggravating feature of this case is the age of the others who were depicted in the images that you had.

“You have pleaded guilty, but even after you first pleaded guilty it was clear you didn’t really accept responsibility for what you had done.

“It is plain that your sexual interests go beyond just looking for these type of images on the internet and you have expressed an interest ultimately to abuse young children in a sexual way.

“We all know in certain cases, looking at this sort of material sometimes leads on to physical attacks taking place.

“And the probation service are not satisfied, and nor am I, that the risk that you pose can be managed in the community.”

As well as jailing him he said he must register as a sex offender and observe a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

An NSPCC spokesperson for South West England said: “The children in these films and pictures are the victims of horrific abuse and the harrowing experiences they endured for the images to be created should not be underestimated.

“Randall’s crimes have only helped fuel this disgusting crime which destroys children's lives and it is right that he has faced the courts for his actions.

“The NSPCC believes that more needs to be done to tackle the vile trade in online abuse images and cut this material off at source.

“If anyone is concerned a child’s welfare they should call our helpline on 0808 800 5000.”