A DANGEROUS pervert has been banned from owning any photographic equipment in a bid to stop his offending.

A court heard that serial offender Daniel Gordon Edmunds, 20, of Lydia Street, Accrington, took pictures of women and young girls to "feed his sexual fantasies."

DC Wendy Rimmer said that Edmunds used the images that he had taken of unwitting strangers as part of his sexual fantasy world.

She said that he had stalked women in the local area after taking pictures of them.

And she said that banning him from doing so would "provide extra protection for the public."

Edmunds is currently on remand in prison while he awaits a court case next month.

At Hyndburn Magistrates Court, district judge Peter Ward imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) that he must not own, possess or use any type of cameras, including mobile phone cameras. Mr Ward admitted that it was an unusual step to ban all use of photographic equipment.

But he said: "There is a genuine point to be made about the risks involved with people who feed their sexual fantasies in this way.

"By taking photographs he is making himself more likely to offend."

The court heard that Edmunds was jailed in 2003 for three years for two counts of indecent exposure.

He was released on December 23 last year and within two days he was offending again.

He was caught breaking the terms of a SOPO by taking pictures of women and girls as young as seven years old in a pub in Accrington, the court was told.

He was again jailed after being convicted of the breach in March this year.

As part of the new SOPO, Edmunds must not associate with any child under 16, enter any school premises, playgrounds or parks or loiter outside those places.

DC Rimmer said it was important to impose the conditions for when Edmunds is eventually released from prison to limit his chances of further offending.