A repeat sex-offender said to retreat into a ‘fantasy world’ online when stressed breached a court order within days of being released from prison.

Lee Ansell, 38, was released from prison on July 15 last year, having been recalled on a sentence imposed for having indecent images.

He almost immediately bought a new computer and dongle enabling him to access the web.

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Ansell then failed to tell the police about his new purchases in breach of a sexual harm prevention order designed to limit his internet access.

Staff at his bail hostel notified the police that Ansell was using the computer and he was arrested on July 18, three days after his release from prison.

When he was interviewed by detectives, the former Marks and Spencer’s warehouse worker came clean about using the computer to access sexualised stories involving children. He told police they would find hyper-realistic images of children.

Despite the admissions, backlogs meant it was six months before forensics specialist could analyse the computer and Ansell was charged with possession of prohibited images of children.

Robert Lindsey, prosecuting, said the 277 images included photo-realistic pictures of children in sexualised poses. The images had been created and the children were not real, hence why Ansell was not charged with possession of indecent images.

Analysis by the police showed Ansell had been looking at websites containing short stories in which adults were involved in sexual liaisons with children, Oxford Crown Court heard.

Ansell, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to breaching his sexual harm prevention order and possession of prohibited images of children.

Mitigating, Alice Aubrey-Fletcher said her client had hidden ‘from the realities of life, which he struggles with, in fantasy worlds’.

She said: “He describes his offending as linked to moments of anxiety and stress, during which he feels an urge to retreat from reality to online fantasy world where he feels safe.”

The barrister added: “The fantasy world is not just a sexual world for Mr Ansell. It’s a system of social connection. It meets the majority of his social needs.”

The judge was asked to impose a sentence in the community, which would allow him to complete a mental health programme through the probation service and understand the underlying cause of his offending

“Prison’s not helping him to control it and it’s not deterring him. These are deep-rooted issues,” Ms Aubrey-Fletcher said.

Sending him to prison for two years, Judge Nigel Daly told Ansell: “Although you have been given sentences within the community, sentences which have been suspended as well as immediate prison sentences, they have had no effect on you whatsoever.

“The only mitigating circumstance is that you pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.”

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward