October 2014 Convicted paedophile caught viewing an image on a library computer of a naked girl, aged about 10 A convicted sex offender used a computer at Norwich’s Millennium Library to access indecent images, a court heard. Ian Sparrow, 50, was spotted by a member of staff viewing an image on a library computer of a naked girl, aged about 10. Martin Ivory, prosecuting at Norwich Crown Court, said the image made the member of staff “feel violated and physically sick” and she alerted her manager about what she had seen on March 27 this year and police were called. However, Sparrow managed to slip away from the scene and, because he had used a library card with false details, was unable to be traced. But when Sparrow returned to the library in May, he was recognised by staff and arrested. Mr Ivory said Sparrow had been convicted in 2011 of downloading indecent images of children and as part of his punishment was made subject to a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) to keep checks on his internet use. Sparrow, of Brewers Court, Norwich, admitted breaching his sexual offences prevention order. Danielle O’Donovan, mitigating, said: “This is a technical breach. The Crown are not in a position to prove exactly what it was that was seen.” However, she said Sparrow accepted that he needed help. Judge Katharine Moore, who described the offence as a “calculated deceit”, ordered that he attend the Thames Valley sex offenders treatment programme and imposed a 
36-month community order, with supervision. Sparrow is already on the sex offender’s register and had further restrictions added to his SOPO. He is also banned from working with children. Speaking after the case, a Norfolk County Council spokesman said: “We regularly check and update our filtering software in libraries to try to ensure that people who use our libraries are not exposed to indecent or upsetting images. We try to make our filtering system as rigorous as possible without it being restrictive and we would encourage library users to report anything they see that may be unsuitable to a member of library staff.”