A CONVICTED paedophile has been warned by a judge that he’s ‘exhausting the patience of the public’ after he was again caught in possession of an indecent image of a child.

Craig Baldwin, 49, of Carleton Street, Keighley, presented a ‘clear and present risk’ after breaching court orders following two jail sentences, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Baldwin was locked up for three and a half years in 2014 for inciting a little girl to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

In 2016, he was imprisoned for 16 months after nearly 600 images of child abuse were discovered on phones at his home.

Yesterday, he was spared an immediate jail sentence after the police found a single Category C image of a child on his phone in September 2020.

The court heard that he had two convictions for failing to comply with the sex offender notification requirements in 2019 and 2020.

Baldwin’s barrister, Paul Canfield, said the breaches were minor and the probation service was willing to do specialist work with him.

The indecent image offence was an isolated incident some time ago. There had been no offending since.

Mr Canfield said that Baldwin had committed the offence when he was living alone. He was isolated with time on his hands. He now had a partner and stable accommodation and he was hoping to obtain work as a warehouseman.

Judge Ahmed Nadim sentenced Baldwin to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 55 rehabilitation days and a requirement to complete an accredited programme.

The court heard that he already had to sign on the sex offender for an indefinite period and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was still in force, also indefinitely.

Judge Nadim said Baldwin’s past convictions for child sexual offences showed that he posed ‘a very clear and present risk to the public.’ “You are exhausting the patience of the public,” he told him.

He urged Baldwin to take advantage of the opportunity to address his entrenched problems.