Perverted voyeur who targeted children in Splash swimming pool jailed for persistent offending


A sexual deviant with a long history of offending has been jailed for more than ten years.
John Dainty admitted systematically sexually abusing a young boy over a three year period between 2000 and 2003 and at one point using drugs to try to persuade him to perform a sex act together.
The pervert was also caught filming young boys getting changed at the Splash swimming pool in Stockton, using a mobile phone and a camera on the end of a flexible cable, Durham Crown Court heard.
The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to a total of 26 offences, including sexual assault, making indecent images of children, breaching the conditions of his sexual harm prevention order and voyeurism.
Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, told the court Dainty faced eight charges in connection with the abuse of the young boy, which started when he was just seven-years-old.
Mr Dodds said the complainant only came forward after confiding what happen to a m ember of paedophile hunting group, the Guardians of the North.
The victim, now aged 26, has been left traumatised by the ordeal he suffered at the hands of Dainty when he was targeted while the defendant was living in Houghton-le-Spring.
In a victim impact statement, he said: “It is always on my mind and there’s times I end up breaking down, watching television and similar things happening on the screen affect me.
“I remember breaking down in front of my girlfriend watching something and it bringing it all back. What he did to me as a child is always there, what he did changed me and affected my moods.”
Dealing with the voyeurism charges, Mr Dodds said Dainty was caught filming the youngsters in the pool’s changing rooms by a man using the leisure centre.
When he was arrested, it was discovered that he had almost 300 indecent images of young children and seven videos.
The court heard how Dainty was first convicted of sexual assault in 19998 while living in Wales.
Dainty, of Stanhope Road North, Darlington, pleaded guilty to all charges.
Judge Johnathan Carroll described him as a ‘persistent’ offender as he jailed Dainty to a total of ten years and nine months in custody with an extended licence of two years and nine months.