A paedophile who superimposed the face of a child on adult pornography images has been jailed for 17 months.

Sentencing 47-year-old Ian Holifield at Ipswich Crown Court on Thursday, April 7, Judge Emma Peters described his actions as “deeply troubling”.

Holifield, of Beresford Road, Lowestoft, admitted making indecent pseudo-images of children and breaching a suspended sentence order.

In addition to jailing Holifield, Judge Peters ordered him to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years and directed that an existing sexual harm prevention order should continue.

She said he had been given a chance by the court in 2020 by way of a suspended sentence order but he hadn’t taken it.

Judge Peters jailed him for nine months for making indecent images with eight months to run consecutively for breaching the suspended sentence order.

The court heard that in 2020 Holifield was given a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for 24 months, for engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, making indecent images of a child and possessing indecent images of a child.

Hannah Gladwell, prosecuting said under the terms of the suspended sentence in 2020 public protection officers had made routine visits to Holifield’s address.

During a visit in September last year his mobile phone was seized and when it was analysed a large number of indecent images with a girl’s face digitally edited on to them were found.

Miss Gladwell said 182 of the images were in the most serious level A category, 738 were in category B and 651 were in the lowest level C category.

She said after his arrest Holifield accepted he was responsible for superimposing the face of a girl he knew on to pornographic images of adults.

The court heard that his conviction in 2020 related to him masturbating in front of a 14-year-old girl.

Danielle O’Donovan, for Holifield, said her client accepted he was a paedophile and needed help.

She said Holifield was an offshore worker and had viewed the images while he was feeling isolated and after taking amyl nitrate “poppers”.

She said he would give up his offshore job if he wasn’t given an immediate prison sentence and was given the chance to take part in a sex offenders’ treatment programme