A BACUP man caught with nearly 2,000 indecent images of children has been sentenced to three years in prison after inciting a young girl to engage in sexual activity when he visited a donkey enclosure.
Gerrard Cadd, 55, was also initially charged with sexual offences involving three young girls.
When he stood trial at Burnley Crown Court in October, Cadd, of Pendle Close, denied five offences, including indecent assault, assaulting a child under 13 and sexual activity with a child, and two charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
He was sentenced at Preston Crown Court yesterday.
Temporary DS Melissa Kelly said: “Cadd is a predatory paedophile who preyed on a young girl. During our inquiries, a search of his home address further revealed indecent images and videos of children being sexually abused.
“I am satisfied with this result and hope that now the victim will be able to start moving forward with her life. We are committed to investigating all allegations of this nature thoroughly and sensitively.
“Despite any passage of time, anyone who has been the victim of similar offences can contact us and be confident that we will listen to them.”
At the trial, not-guilty verdicts were ordered, in relation to the offences concerning one of the girls, on the direction of trial judge Simon Newell.
At the conclusion of the trial, Cadd was also cleared of two further charges — but he was found guilty by jurors of inciting a young girl to engage in sexual activity during a trip to the donkey enclosure at Healey Dell nature reserve, near Whitworth.
During the trial, David Traynor, prosecuting, said the girl, then aged 12, had been at Healey Dell when Cadd exposed himself and asked her to touch him.
Cadd accepted that he went behind a tree to urinate while at Healey Dell but he had never deliberately exposed himself and the girl must be mistaken.
This was the offence the jury convicted him of.
He was cleared of a similar alleged incident.
Mr Traynor said that Cadd had also been involved in sexualised behaviour with a third girl, involving touching her on the legs and top of her thighs, as well as tickling her chest.
Several witnesses, in defence of Cadd, said they had never known him to engage in inappropriate actions, and the jury found him not guilty of all offences in relation to the third girl.
Before the trial, Cadd had admitted an offence of possessing indecent images.
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