October 2013 ‘Adult baby’ escapes jail A man who lives as a grown-up baby has been spared jail after images of children in nappies were found on his computer. David Cook, aged 32, suffers from a rare condition called paraphilic infantilism or adult baby syndrome and wears giant sized nappies when he is at home. He built up a collection of 90,000 images of babies in nappies after typing in search terms ‘cloth diapers’ and ‘kids in diaper punishment’, Exeter Crown Court was told. He also downloaded 250 indecent images of babies but was spared jail after a judge heard how he opened them by accident while searching for nappy pictures which were not illegal. A leading expert in sexual offending concluded that Cook had no sexual interest in children and his internet use was a result of his own attempt to retreat back into early childhood. Cook, aged 32, who was living in Millers Way, Honiton at the time, but is now of Alphington Street, Exeter, admitted 11 counts of making or possessing indecent images. He was jailed for four months, suspended for two years and ordered to do 120 hours unpaid community work and pay £350 costs. He was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years and made subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order which allows police to monitor his internet usage. Assistant Judge Advocate General Mr Alan Large told him he was suspending the sentence after reading reports from a psychologist and a probation officer who both considered him to pose a very low risk to children. He told Cook: “You have pleaded guilty on the basis you have a condition called paraphilic infantilism and you have set out how it affects your life. “The essence of this condition is that you seek relief from the stresses of life by dressing in nappies and pretending to be a baby. It is described as a life style condition. “It is something you do in private in your own home and you otherwise lead a normal life and have held down a full time job for a responsible employer. “It is said you gain no sexual pleasure from what you do and it is clearly something you have done since adolescence. “Your condition has meant that in this internet age you have spent a good deal of time looking at young children in nappies on the internet and over 90,000 were found on your computer. “Although that is something that would concern anyone, I stress that I sentence you on the basis that it is not illegal to have that material, but it demonstrates what I regard as a worrying interest in young children  “It has also brought you to court because while viewing this legal material you also viewed a comparatively small number of illegal images. There is no evidence to suggest you looked for this illegal material. “Nonetheless, you must have known from the very first time that such photographs appeared on the screen that it was a risk you took and continued to take. “The probation service took the very sensible step of consulting a chartered research psychiatrist who works with the National Offender Management Service. “That report indicates you do not have distorted views about sex or children despite your unusual interest in images and you are highly unlikely to be sexually attracted to them.” Miss Janice Eagles, prosecuting, said police raided the room which Cook rented in a shared house in Honiton 13 months ago and he told them straight away there were images of babies in nappies on his computer. Officers found four baby-sized nappies in his bedroom which were too small for Cook to have worn himself. An analysis of the computer kit found a total of 250 images of which 41 were of the two highest categories which show children being abused by adults. She said: “Large quantities of images of children and babies in nappies were found which were not illegal but showed the defendant’s interest in children of this age.” Mr Brendon Moorhouse, defending, said Cook had never wanted to download illegal images and had deleted them when he opened them by mistake. He said they amounted to less than 0.3 per cent of the images of children, with the rest being legal. He said Cook’s behaviour started when he was bullied at school and retreated into infantilism. He said: “He is described in the reports as socially awkward, alone, and having grown up in a difficult way. “He was bullied a lot at school. He did not fight back physically or verbally and instead grew up with this condition through which he sought refuge from the pressures of life.”