A MAN who told a young girl he had been “naughty” and taken photographs of her playing before asking her to pose nude for him will be monitored by police for a decade.

Ivan Zelenka was alone with the child, who cannot be identified, when he “rather hesitantly” approached her in late July 2015.

The 52-year-old, who had suffered a stroke three months before speaking to the girl, later told police he had said the word ‘knackered’ and not ‘naked’.

However, he later admitted causing or inviting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and two counts of possessing indecent photographs of children at Bournemouth Crown Court.

On Thursday, April 6, he returned to the court to be sentenced.

Prosecuting, Dawn Hyland said the youngster was left “very distressed and quite hysterical” after Zelenka’s approach.

“He told her rather hesitantly that he had been ‘very naughty’ and had taken pictures of her playing," she said.

“He asked if he could see her naked. She wasn’t sure if he said he wanted to photograph her or paint her naked, but it was something like that.”

Police informed by the girl's parents seized equipment including a camera and an SD card from Zelenka’s home in Bournemouth.

A number of images had been deleted from the device, it was heard.

Two computers were also seized. Indecent images were found on the computers. The images were not of the girl.

During police interview, Zelenka, now of Booterstown Avenue in County Dublin, said the child must have misheard him.

“He said he had actually said the word ‘knackered’,” Ms Hyland said.

“[He said] the images found were the result of pop-ups or inadvertent downloads in larger quantities from zip files he had believed contained adult pornography.”

A victim impact statement written by the child was read aloud to the court.

She said she had feared Zelenka would take revenge after she spoke to the police.

“I suddenly felt I had to stop being a child and start thinking about grown up things,” the girl said.

"I was terrified of being on my own."

Nicholas Robinson, mitigating, said Zelenka is "somebody who deeply regrets his behaviour" and is trying to "get to the bottom of why he behaved so deplorably".

"This is very out of character," Mr Robinson said.

"He had taken leave of his senses."

The defendant, who has no previous convictions, was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for two years.

He must also complete a 60-day rehabilitation activity requirement and is subject to the requirements of the sex offender register and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

Judge Peter Johnson said the victim's parents "should be extremely proud".

"Her victim impact statement shows a plucky, public-spirited young person," he said.