Paul Hilton – Bicester

A former children’s entertainer has been jailed after he was caught watching videos of naked toddlers.

Paul Hilton, of Bardwell Terrace, Bicester, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday, November 25.

Hilton, 62, pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

The order was initially imposed in April last year.

This was after, on August 18, 2023, Hilton was caught looking at child sexual abuse material on his parent’s living room television by his neighbour in Malvern Close, Banbury.

He was charged with six counts of possession of indecent images after being caught with 1,172 Category C images still and moving, 78 Category A images still and moving, and 127 Category B images still and moving.

He was also caught and charged with possession of 18 prohibited images of a child and three extreme pornographic images.

Before he was sentenced on November 25 this year, mitigating barrister Gordana Austin applied to adjourn the hearing in order to obtain a psychiatric report.

However Judge Ian Pringle KC refused this application and said: “I’m going to deal with this case today.”

The court heard that in October this year, police visited Hilton’s address after security software on a Lenovo tablet captured him viewing a YouTube video which contained a naked toddler.

He also had other videos, which contained naked children aged between six and 15 years old. There was also evidence that he paused these videos.

Hilton denied being sexually attracted to children and he admitted downloading and deleting videos.

A storage locker in Banbury was also searched and a Dell laptop and computer tower found, which hadn’t been registered with police.

There was evidence that he visited the storage locker frequently. The court also heard this was the third breach of the sexual harm prevention order.

Ms Austin said: “It’s clear he feels a deep shame about the offending and finds it difficult to open up about it.

“He has experienced regret and has insight into the harm it causes.

“He lives on his own and has a very lonely life. He spends too much time online.

“He believes he is bipolar. His mental health has significantly declined. He feels that everyone knows about him.

“He doesn’t want to die as a hated person. He is motivated to change his behaviour.”

Sentencing Hilton, Judge Pringle said: “You fully understood the order because you have already breached it.

“You clearly have an interest in children, though you deny it. You were targeting young children.”

Hilton was jailed for a total of 18 months.