A DANGEROUS sexual predator with an “appalling” record of offences against children spanning three decades has been locked up after he took a picture of a young boy who was naked from the waist down.

David Record, 63, tried to conceal the picture from police officers who visited his home in September 2019 by hiding it behind another picture.

The boy had ventured to the defendant’s flat, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

When his mother arrived to get him five minutes later, the boy said Record had told him to take off his clothes.

Record told police he had taken photographs of the boy to give to his grandmother.

But an indecent image of the child was found at his home, concealed behind a picture of an elderly woman.

Record, of Marine Parade, Dovercourt, was released from prison in 2018 after serving part of an 11 year sentence for offences including attempted rape, indecent assault, gross indecency with a child and taking indecent images of children.

Following his conviction in 2011, he was placed in the sex offenders register for life.

Recorder Simon Mayo QC said Record’s offending was aggravated by his “appalling” record of offences against children extending over three decades.

“You were on licence when this offence was committed,” he said.

The court heard Record had already served a prison sentence imposed in August 2019 for breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

He admitted taking an indecent photograph of a child.

Judge Mayo said: “Your previous convictions reveal you’ve been a threat to children for nearly three decades.

“The offences for which you were convicted in 2011 dated back as early as 1990.

“In light of your recent offending and everything else I’ve read about you, I come to the sure and certain conclusion you will continue to be a threat children for many years to come.”

Record received an extended sentence of seven years, with two years to be served in custody and five years on license.

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