A MUM has slammed the decision not to jail a man who took indecent pictures of her child on his mobile phone.

Stephen Knops, 65, from Queens Park West Drive, Bournemouth, admitted four counts of taking indecent images and possessing a pornographic image of a child on his home computer.

Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, Sadie Rizzo said police had interviewed Knops after receiving a tip-off in connection with an incident on January 17 last year.

As well as four images of a young girl, showing “naked body parts,” officers found a grade four image of a child on Knops’ computer which had links to a website featuring sexual abuse of children.

During interview the father-of-four denied any wrong-doing.

After the case, his victim’s mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: “I’m absolutely gutted; I don’t think the sentence reflects the seriousness of the offences. I had hoped he would be jailed.

“You hear about shoplifters being sent to prison. Someone who is prepared to take advantage of an innocent little girl should face the consequences.

“Fortunately, my daughter is unaware of what he did to her but I’ve been badly affected. I’ve become over-protective and don’t trust anyone anymore. It’s so sad.”

Defending Knops, Robert Grey said the mobile phone photographs had not been posed and were taken after Knops had been drinking. He added of the pornography offence: “He accepts accessing adult pornography but did not knowingly access child pornography. This is unusual because it is only one image.”

Passing sentence, Judge Samuel Wiggs told Knops: “You did something silly; you undoubtedly regret it.”

He imposed a three-year community order, with the condition that Knops attends the Thames Valley sex offenders’ programme.