A sex offender has been jailed for defying a ban on meeting children and befriending a family with a toddler son.

A sex offender has been jailed for defying a ban on meeting children and befriending a family with a toddler son.

Daniel Hedison was allowed to play with the young boy and was left alone to babysit him.

The boy’s parents had no idea that he had a conviction for accessing child abuse images on the internet and was subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) that restricted his contact with children.

The orders were imposed because Hedison exchanged fantasies about abusing babies and young boys on the internet at the same time as he downloaded images of male children aged four to 13.

He was forbidden from having any access to children unless he told the parents about his past and notified the police, Exeter Crown Court was told.

He was caught because he was seen playing with the toddler while watching a football match by a volunteer who learned about his background on the internet.

Hedison, aged 32, of Honiton, admitted four breaches of a SHPO and was jailed for 14 months by Judge Peter Johnson.

He told him: “It is of significance that in 2015 you told the police you had a considerable sexual interest in young males.

“That was something that rang alarm bells and you would have been prevented from any further contact with this child if the parents had known about it.

“This offence is too serious for a suspended sentence. You told the young couple that you expected to be behind bars for Christmas, and that has been borne out.”

Miss Hollie Gilbery, prosecuting, said the SHPO was imposed in September 2015 when Hedison received an eight-month suspended sentence for seven counts of making indecent images of children.

On October 10 police were called after he was seen at a football match with the child. At one point he was seen playing with the child in the clubhouse.

He had become a friend of the parents. He had babysat for the boy twice.

Neither had any idea about his past. They were both horrified to learn the truth and said their son treated Hedison like an uncle. The mother was so distressed she needed treatment for anxiety.

Mr William Parkhill, defending, said there was no suggestion of any kind of sexual activity with the child and Hedison had admitted breaching the order as soon as he was arrested.

He said: “He was a young man who was trying to move on with his life and did not tell others around him about his past. He took the easy option.”