A PAEDOPHILE has been allowed to walk free from court after he created a Facebook account under a false name.

Shaun Leah, from Croft, was jailed for four-and-a-half years in 2005 for sexually abusing three girls aged as young as seven over a period of a number of years.

After being convicted of his ‘sick’ crimes at Warrington Crown Court, the 53-year-old was ordered to comply with the sex offenders register for life.

But he breached the terms of the register when he set up a Facebook account under the alias of ‘Lennie Ross’ in December last year.

However, on Wednesday, April 4, he was allowed to walk free from Liverpool Crown Court without punishment for failing to comply with the register.

During a phone conversation with his designated police officer, Leah, of Cross Lane, inadvertently revealed that he had set up the Facebook page.

The court heard that he ‘did not realise’ that his actions would result in him breaching the terms of the sex offenders register.

Leah, who was unrepresented in court, told officers that he had set up the account in order to advertise his groundwork services as a tradesman, and did not have a ‘sinister’ motive.

Recorder David Turner handed Leah a two-year conditional discharge after he admitted failing to comply with the sex offenders register.

Sentencing, recorder Turner said: “I am quite satisfied that there was no ulterior motive in you breaching the sex offenders register.

“You have now taken stock and are going to be very careful in the future.

“The public interest is also served by you working and being self-sufficient.

“I take the view that you didn’t open this Facebook account for any sinister purpose, but instead used it to find work.

“This may seem like a very lenient sentence, but you are being put on trust not to commit any sort of offence for a period of two years.”