A man who was caught by an undercover police officer with more than 500 indecent images of children has been spared a jail sentence.

John Dempsey was handed a community order at Burnley Crown Court after Judge Sara Dodd favoured rehabilitation over immediate custody.

The court heard how Dempsey had been using Siri on his iPhone to conduct internet searches using child abuse phrases, and had also accessed chat rooms where he regularly conversed with people he believed to be paedophiles.

In May 2020, police attended his home and seized a Huawei phone, before gaining access to his Google, Dropbox and Cloud devices, where they found 86 category A (the most serious) images of children, 74 category B images, 408 category C images and 35 extreme images.

Prosecuting, Joshua Bowker told the court how the phone had been reset a few days before the police search and that when questioned, Dempsey told officers that he was not attracted to children.

Mr Bowker said: “The defendant was interviewed in July and he admitted to having online sexual chats with people he thought were paedophiles, and had actively started to find people who were attracted to children.”

Mr Bowker said Dempsey, 48, told police he had been ‘obsessed with finding men on the internet who were paedophiles’ to try to bring them to justice due to too many cases of child grooming going unreported and prosecuted.

Dempsey, of Co-operation Street, Bacup, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of children, and one count of possessing an extreme image involving an animal. He was given a three year community order; a sexual harm prevention order subject to notification requirements for five years; 30 rehabilitation days, and 40 days on a sexual offending programme.

Defending, Rachel Cooper said: “He pleaded guilty in April, and his character reference seems to indicate that there was an incident that happened some years ago in terms of the grooming of a child known to Dempsey by someone else online, but his explanation for how he came to be in possession of these images was treated with scepticism by the probation officers.

“He has suffered severe mental health problems since this came to light and has sought himself to contact Minds Matter.

“He is remorseful and at low risk of re-offending and is someone who will engage with help."

Judge Dodd said: “It isn’t unusual, despite pleading guilty, to accept and come to terms with the fact that you do have a sexual interest in children.

“And you must remember that all these children in these images are real children and children who have been groomed and abused.

“Given the steps taken to address your offending, I consider rehabilitation as better protection for society."