A PAEDOPHILE has been sentenced to five years in jail for sexual activity with a child as well as making and distributing indecent images of a baby.

Barry Saunders, 40, of no fixed abode, admitted the charges at a hearing last month and was sentenced by judge Samantha Leigh at Southend Crown Court on Friday.

Saunders took the photos in his flat in Westcliff, on November 14, 2014.

He had befriended the mother of the baby to such an extent that she felt comfortable leaving her child in his care for brief periods.

On November 14 she was in his flat but left to get changed before they went out, leaving her baby in Saunders’ care for eight minutes.

In that time Saunders took three indecent images of him and the child, one of which shows the baby in particular distress.

He sent one of them on instant messaging service Kik to another user.

In jailing Saunders judge Leigh said: “Having read the chat log between you and the Kik user it shows to me you deliberately targeted the mother and her baby.

“You are a dangerous person who clearly poses a risk to children.

“Anyone reading the log would understand the gravity of your offences.

“She considered you a good friend, trusting you with her child.”

The mother of the baby reported Saunders to the police after returning to his flat the same evening and, as he was uploading photos of the three of them to his Facebook account, she noticed a picture of just her daughter on his tablet computer.

Saunders attempted to delete the photos from his tablet but one remained and the other two were recovered by experts.

Gareth Hughes, prosecuting, said of Saunders: “The deleted content shows in graphic detail the definite interest in sexual activity with very young children, particularly babies.”

Saunders will serve two thirds of his sentence in prison, before being considered for release on licence.