Image caption Mr Greaves pleaded no contest to the charge against him

A US man who wrote a guidebook giving advice to paedophiles has been sentenced to two years' probation.

Phillip Greaves pleaded no contest on Wednesday in Florida to a charge of distributing obscene material depicting minors engaged in harmful conduct.

Greaves will serve the sentence in Colorado, his home state, and will not have to register as a sex offender.

He was arrested in December after he sold a copy of the self-published book to an undercover detective in Florida.

He was arrested in Colorado on behalf of prosecutors in Polk County, Florida, and was extradited to the southern US state.

The book, The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover's Code of Conduct, argues that paedophiles are misunderstood and purports to offer advice to help them abide by the law.

Mr Greaves gained notoriety after online retailer Amazon.com was criticised for selling the book on its website.

After angry comments and threats of boycotts from thousands of Amazon users, the site pulled the book from its virtual shelves.