A man with an uncontrollable fetish for spanking has been jailed after a court heard his passion led him to indecently assault two young girls.

Juan Raphael Suau, befriended the children, aged eight and 10, close to the home he shared with his daughter in north west Leicestershire in April last year.

Convincing the girls' parents that he was harmless, Suau began taking them along when he walked his dog, Leicester Crown Court heard.

After bribing them with sweets, he would play a game of chase with the pair, putting them across his knee and smacking their bottoms when he caught them, said Simon Eckersley, prosecuting.

Suau's actions came to light when a social worker visited one of his victim's parents and was alerted to the 57-year-old.

Police were called when one of the girls admitted that Suau often put her across his knee and he sometimes took down her and her friend's trousers and underwear.

Suau, who later moved to Edward Street, Nuneaton, was arrested in March this year and admitted to police that he smacked the girls' bottoms.

He denied taking their clothes off and said he did not believe his actions were indecent, claiming it was part of the game they played. He later pleaded guilty to four charges of indecent assault.

Mr Eckersley then revealed to the court that Suau has been jailed on two previous occasions, in 1975 and 1996, for smacking young girls' bottoms.

John Lloyd Jones, defending, said Suau's offending stemmed from a passion for spanking, rather than a lust for children.

He said: "The defendant gains stimulation from spanking and smacking, and that is what he did on all these occasions. It was not his aim to do anything more with these children."

Mr Lloyd-Jones told the court that Suau's fetish for spanking began at school, when he watched a female classmate being punished.

He said Suau usually satisfied his urge to spank women, either through adult clubs or contact magazines.

Passing sentence, Judge Christopher Metcalf told Suau that, until he addressed his fetish, he would remain a danger to children.

He jailed Suau for three years, with an extended licence period of three years on his release.

He will also have to enlist on a sex offenders' register and he will be banned indefinitely from working with children.

HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE NEWSROOM? CLICK HERE!

Return to this Newsroom date at www.nospank.net/news4.htm
Select other Newsroom date range at www.nospank.net/news.htm
Return to Spanking Can Be Sexual Abuse at www.nospank.net/101.htm
Return to Project NoSpank Table of Contents at www.nospank.net/toc.htm