A CONVICTED paedophile from Walney has been spared jail for a second time - by the same crown court judge who warned him just six months ago that he was being given "a chance".

Joshua Leslie Nicholas, of Kennet Road on Walney, was convicted last July after he admitted downloading thousands of indecent and sexually explicit images of young children. Some of the images were classed as the most obscene category of sexual material relating to children and involved girls being raped.

Barrow Crown Court was told at his sentencing last year that 23-year-old Nicholas preferred images of girls aged around eight years old.

Judge Beverley Lunt told Nicholas at the time that his case was a "very worrying one" but opted to show restraint and not jail him, telling Nicholas: "I like to think that you are not beyond redemption. I will give you a chance."

His barrister Sharon Watson said Nicholas was aware that he had a problem and was ashamed.

She said: "Mr Nicholas knows that he has deviant interests. He is making it known that he wants to work with professionals to solve his problem."

Nicholas was given a three-year community order, a curfew and a five-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), restricting his use of computers among other conditions at his sentencing on July 12 last year.

Just six months later, Nicholas has been back before the courts facing more charges of possessing indecent images.

On March 16, he appeared before Judge Lunt again where he pleaded guilty to making and possessing an indecent image of a child and breaching his SHPO. He once more avoided a jail sentence.

He was given a conditional discharge and a 90-day custodial sentence suspended for 12 months. His SHPO will remain for five years and he will remain on the sex offenders' register for seven years.