A predatory paedophile was jailed for ten years today after being found guilty of filming himself repeatedly abusing two young girls and hoarding 200,000 indecent images of children.
Evil Alan Potbury, 38, – dubbed ‘Al the Paedo’ by work colleagues – carried out sickening sexual abuse on two six-year-old girls over a period of three years – attacking one victim he babysat for after befriending her parents.
Former deliveryman Potbury took pictures and filmed his horrifying sexual crimes on a mobile phone before downloading the footage onto his computer.
He was finally caught when the mother of one of his victims saw her daughter kissing her brother and explained that Potbury had shown her how to do it.
Police raided his home, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and uncovered almost 200,000 indecent images and movies stashed on mobile phones, DVDs and his computer.
They also seized nine pairs of girls knickers from his lair.
Potbury admitted a total of 35 counts at Bristol Crown Court yesterday, including seven counts of assault by penetration on a child under 13 and five of sexual assault on a child.
He also confessed to 12 counts of taking photographs or movies of the abuse, as well eleven other counts of downloading thousands of child porn images and movies from the internet.
Bristol Crown Court heard Potbury was known as ‘Al the Paedo’ to work colleagues because of his crude and sexual comments about children and women when he made home deliveries.
James Ward, prosecuting, told the court bespectacled Potbury, who stared straight ahead throughout the two-hour hearing, had received a caution for indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 16 in 1993, while he babysat for her.
Mr Ward said it was the Crown’s case that 1993 was the start of a period in Alan Potbury’s life that culminated in him abusing the two young girls.
The court was told how Potbury befriended a young family, with a six-year-old girl, in 2004 – before suggesting that he come over and babysit when the parents went out.
Mr Ward said: ”Alan Potbury came into the friendship circle of the household. As the friendship got stronger they would see him at least once a month – then once or twice a week.
”Alan would suggest to them that they should go as a group for a drink, but he would stay and babysit the children.
”The victim’s mother says she though nothing of it and that Alan would often stay over on the sofa.”
Potbury’s babysitting duties became more frequent in 2010 when the girl’s mother started an evening course and her husband left the marital home.
Mr Ward told the court: ”The victim’s mother says Alan would quite regularly read the child a bed time story or help bath her other two children.”
But in July last year, the stunned mum caught her daughter kissing her own brother.
When asked where she had seen this done before, she said Potbury had shown her.
Police then investigated and found images and movies – complete with times and dates – of him abusing the youngster.
They also found near identical images and videos of him attacking another six-year-old girl back in 2007.
The sick footage had been burned onto DVDs and downloaded onto Potbury’s computer.
The court heard the multiple graphic images and video was taken while be babysat.
On one occasion he took up to 20 pictures of his victim in just ten minutes.
Officers also found a total of 190,031 other indecent images that the defendant had downloaded onto his machine from the internet between 2001 and 2010.
Of those abuse pictures, 121 were level five – the most serious abuse category – 697 were level four, 742 were level three, 538 were at level two and 187,288 were at level one.
A total of 105 child porn movies were discovered – of which four were categorised as level five.
Nine pairs of girls knickers and a pair of girl’s socks were also taken from his home.
A statement read out by the prosecution on behalf of the devastated father of one of the victims accused Potbury of preying on his family – just so he could get his hands on his daughter.
He said: ”I now firmly believe that Alan Potbury got close to my family to get close to my children.
”I thought it was my wife who he was interested in and not my children.”
Mr Ward told sitting Judge Neil Ford QC that the case was the chance to punish a producer of child porn – not just a downloader.
He said: ”The importance of this case before this court is this is someone who has taken images then downloaded them onto his computer.
”We can’t speculate on what may have happened thereafter but this is one of those rare occasions where someone who took photographs is before the court.
”Of course there is no suggestion these images were distributed.”
Derek Perry, defending Potbury, said he accepted his client could be facing a lengthy jail term and said he could not deny the crimes were ”reprehensible”.
He claimed Potbury had suffered from Klinefelter’s (corr) syndrome – a sex chromosome disorder – which meant he grew a breast as a teenager.
Mr Perry told the court that after having the breast removed, and being rendered infertile, his client suffered depression which may have driven him to commit the offences.
He also stressed that Potbury vehemently denied he had targeted women or families with young children.
Mr Perry told the court: ”He refutes that he targets specific families because they had children.”
Judge Ford QC told the court he would consider sentence on Potbury overnight.
Ordering him to stand, he said: ”I have a lot of information from the prosecution and your counsel.
”I have been handed some personal statements and wish to review all the information overnight before passing sentence on you.”
Potbury will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court today.