West Sussex man jailed after admitting 41 sex offences Published duration 3 March 2011

image caption Carl Leslie, 27, admitted more than 40 sex offences

A paedophile who preyed on children as young as 12 has been jailed after admitting more than 40 sex offences.

Carl Leslie, of Talbot Lane, Horsham, West Sussex, was given an indeterminate sentence at Hove Crown Court.

The 27-year-old sexually abused three young boys and shared inappropriate sexual messages with a 15-year-old girl he had met on an online gaming site.

Police also found about 14,000 indecent images of children when they seized his computer on 30 April last year.

Online gaming site

Detectives said that some of the images were taken in his bedroom.

Along with records of internet chat logs, they showed that sexual contact had been taking place between two boys who were aged just 12 and 13 at the start.

When interviewed by police, one of the boys said Leslie had performed sex acts on him every other day for about 18 months.

The other boy told police he was abused in a similar way at around the same time and that Leslie had warned him not to tell anyone about it as he had already been in prison.

The court heard that Leslie did not appear to have had any physical contact with the third boy, who was also 12.

He had also met him on an online gaming site and had been coerced into sending sexual photos of himself to Leslie.

'Dangerous to boys'

The court heard that Leslie had previous convictions for sexually assaulting a child and possessing indecent photographs of children.

Judge David Rennie said the case involved "systematic grooming".

"I have no hesitation at all in concluding that you are dangerous to young boys," he said.

Leslie pleaded guilty last month to 10 charges of making indecent images of children and 14 charges of possession of indecent images of children.

He also admitted nine charges of sexual activity with a child under 13, six charges of sexual activity with a child under 16, one charge of causing a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity and one charge of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13.