A MAN who took sexual photos of a sleeping child for about half an hour has been jailed for 15 months.

Damian Andrew Pearson, 27, went into the room where the underage girl was sleeping at midnight, exposed her private parts and

photographed them about 20 times with his mobile phone, said Giles Bridge, prosecuting.

His actions in the North Yorkshire bedroom woke her.

"She thought at the time it may be a dream," said the barrister. But then she realised that it was really happening.

After Pearson left, she was too terrified to go back to sleep and spent the rest of the night watching television.

She later told a friend and police were called.

Pearson reset his phone, deleting the pictures, before he was arrested.

Pearson, of Valley View, Esh Winning near Durham, denied charges of sexual assault and taking indecent photos, but was convicted by a jury at York Crown Court last month.

He was jailed for 15 months and put on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

For him, Chloe Fairley said Pearson had been highly regarded when he used to work with adults with learning disabilities before moving to a new address.

"He is a young man who has been hard-working. He is someone who can be an immense credit to the community," she said.

She urged Judge Simon Hickey to suspend the prison sentence.

But the judge told Pearson; "Unfortunately I take the view in your case, given there was a trial in this case, it must be an immediate custodial sentence."