AN internet paedophile who was jailed indefinitely after trying to persuade a young teenager to sexually abuse her baby cousin yesterday had his potentially life-long sentence overturned.

David Spence, of Hudson Terrace, Deddington, was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment for public protection (IPP) at Durham Crown Court in September for a string of sex offences.

The sentence meant he might never be freed as he could only be released if the parole board considered he was no longer a public danger.

But yesterday, after concluding the danger had never existed, three Court of Appeal senior judges, Lord Justice Hooper, Mr Justice Openshaw and Mr Justice Sweeney, quashed the sentence.

Substituting a conventional five-year sentence, the judges said a sexual offences prevention order restricting Spence’s Internet access was enough to protect the public.

The 55-year-old, who had previous adult sex crime convictions, used the pseudonym “Amber” to befriend a 13-year-old girl with learning difficulties on the Internet.

In weeks of exchanges, he increased the sexual undertones of their conversations until he began persuading her to touch herself and to talk about her private parts.

He tried to convince the girl to sexually abuse her one-year-old cousin. He was caught out when he sent her a 14th birthday card and included an Argos voucher, which he had paid for using his own credit card.

Sentencing him, the crown court judge said he considered Spence posed a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public if he offended again.

But yesterday, his lawyers said the judge’s conclusion went against the opinion of a probation officer who had interviewed him.

Spence had admitted two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, arranging or facilitating child pornography, and making and possessing indecent photos of a child.