A MAN caught taking photographs of children on Weymouth beach was found to have a stash of child porn on his computer, a court was told.

Graham Leonard Maynard, 46, received a suspended prison sentence after admitting possessing 13 indecent images of children.

Dorchester Crown Court heard how Maynard was seen taking photos on the resort’s beach three years ago and he was arrested by police, who later searched his laptop and found the images.

Judge Roger Jarvis labelled the images as disgusting when he sentenced Maynard.

Stuart Ellacott, prosecuting, told the court: “Mr Maynard came to the police attention on August 15, 2007.

“An issue arose with regards to the photographing of children on the beach in Weymouth.

“The defendant had come down for a holiday from his home in Swindon.

“He was arrested at the time and following that a computer at his home address, a laptop, was seized.”

Mr Ellacott said a total of 13 indecent images of children were found on the computer.

Indecent images are graded from one to five, with five being the most serious.

Mr Ellacott said in this case there were seven grade one images, two grade three and four grade four images.

He added that Maynard had two previous convictions, dating back to 1990 and 1997, for indecent assault.

Jamie Porter, mitigating, said his client accepted he had problems and urged the judge to take a course that would address Maynard’s risk of re-offending.

He said: “The protection of the public and specifically children must be paramount in the court’s mind.”

Judge Jarvis told the defendant: “You have admitted some very serious offences.

“I have seen some of the images and they are disgusting.

“It is a mystery to most people as to why it is people like you get gratification from the visual images that have been shown to me.”

The judge added: “As bad and as serious as it is, the viewing of these images on the internet, the reality of actually going onto the beach and disturbing innocent families when you were in a predatory way taking photographs for your own gratification is a more serious matter entirely.”

Maynard, of Almwick, Swindon, received a prison sentence of 50 weeks, suspended for a year.

He was also made subject to a community order for three years, with a supervision requirement and a requirement to attend a sex offenders’ treatment programme.

Maynard was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years and Judge Jarvis imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order that will be in place until further notice.