A so-called "virtuous paedophile" has "come out" to the world and claimed that adults who are sexually attracted to children are not destined to commit abuse.

Gary Gibson, 65, said he chooses not to act on his urges and provides "life coaching" to paedophiles in need of counselling after setting up the Association for Sexual Abuse Prevention in 2014.

He is supported by his British wife Tabitha Abel, a former nurse who believes paedophilia is a mental health condition.

"Paedophilia doesn’t mean that you're a child molester, and I think that’s where people are caught out," she told The Sun, adding that she thought education of the public was "important".

Mr Gibson, a Christian father of three and a former teacher, is a member of the Virtuous Paedophiles internet forum - for those attracted to children, who choose not to act on their feelings.

It claims that keeping children safe is its "highest priority".

Describing himself as a "comfortably out" paedophile, he told The Sun: “When they pass 12 [girls] tend to get into themselves, start to make themselves look older, and I like things natural so there we are. When they start wearing lipstick and stuff like that I don’t find it very appealing.”

His fantasies revolved around "grooming" children and developing the "type of relationship you would have with an adult", he said.

In a video of ASAP's 2016 conference posted online, he said: "In the 50s every male I knew was sexually attracted to children, little girls. I talked to dozens, hundreds of other people who had the same experience. I don't know if it was everywhere but in those days it sure seemed like it to me. It seemed very normal.

"I had never called myself a paedophile but for 50 years, more than 50 years, I have been sexually attracted to little girls. I choose not to act on it. I'm not exclusive, so it's pretty easy for me to pretend I was a regular, normal adult male and got married.

"Therapists don't all get it. Some of them think that it's impossible, it's inevitable that every paedophile is going to offend."

His family history included sexual abuse dating back generations, Mr Gibson said.

The subject of paedophiles who claim they do not offend was the topic of a 2014 documentary called 'The Paedophile Next Door'.

Director Steve Humphries told The Independent at the time: "Few crimes are more horrific than the sexual abuse of children, yet all the elaborate policies and legislation put in place to protect our children over the past century have failed.

Researchers announced in 2016 they believed the brains of paedophiles who have never attacked a child are different to child sex abusers.

Scientists used an MRI scanner to study the minds of 40 child abusers and 37 people who are paedophiles but have never sexually assaulted a child, along with 40 “healthy non-offending” people used as controls.

They found they could tell who the non-offending paedophiles were by the activation patterns in certain parts of their brain, which they believe are involved in controlling the impulse to abuse a child.

Jon Brown, the NSPCC's lead on tackling sexual abuse, said: "Preventing paedophiles from committing offences is a vital part of keeping children safe.

"If someone recognises they are a potential offender they should be able to seek treatment to control their behaviour.