Southam man with a self-confessed attraction to young children was caught after sending an indecent image via Facebook

A Southam man with a self-confessed attraction to young children was caught after sending an indecent image via Facebook.

And Wolfgang Prasch pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images of children and one of distributing an image.

Prasch (26) of Ash Grove, Southam, was given a three-year community order with a condition of taking part in a sex offender programme and a rehabilitation activity.

Recorder Balraj Bhatia QC also ordered him to do 200 hours of unpaid work and to register as a sex offender for five years.

Prosecutor John O’Higgins said that in December 2019 the police received information that a user of an email address linked to Prasch had uploaded an indecent image using a Facebook account.

So in June last year officers went to his address where he was arrested and his phone, laptop, i-Pad and a USB stick were seized.

On the various devices officers found hundreds of images and videos of children being subjected to sexual activity.

He said he had started by viewing pre-teen model images, but had then accessed the dark web to find indecent images, but stressed that he would never meet or hurt a child.

Prasch said he was attracted to children, and knew he had a problem, adding that he had tried to stop on a number of occasions and had deleted images, before carrying on.

And Mr O’Higgins pointed out that the majority of the images recovered by the police from the devices had been deleted, but 293 were still accessible.

Ian Speed, defending, said a pre-sentence report on Prasch recommended a community order, which he argued was the best way of addressing his behaviour.

Recorder Bhatia agreed, but rejected the suggestion of making Prasch subject to a curfew.