A PAEDOPHILE who was once jailed for possessing a haul of child abuse images has demanded The Argus remove an online story about his crimes, saying they are now “irrelevant”.

Alan Davey, now 33, was sentenced to eight months imprisonment in 2003 after pleading guilty to 27 charges of making indecent photographs of children.

Davey, who lived on-site at the Butterfly Children’s Nursery in Crawley at the time, which was run by his mother Susan, told police his habit of looking at the vile pictures developed into an “obsession”.

The pictures depicted girls of 11 and under being sexually abused by adult males.

Davey contacted The Argus this week and asked for the online story from 2003 detailing his crimes and subsequent court case to be removed.

He said the article was having a “serious impact” on his life and was affecting the safety of his family.

He added: “Family members and friends have been threatened because of this article. As it has been over 10 years I feel it is an irrelevant matter.”

His comments have infuriated child abuse campaigners.

Gabrielle Shaw, chief executive of The National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: “Davey may want the luxury of ‘moving on’ and forgetting all about it, but perhaps he should remember that the abusive images he purchased and viewed means that those children do not have that luxury, and the impact on their lives is more than he could ever understand.

“Each image shows a child being abused, being victimised and having all their choices and self-determination removed. The effect their experiences had on them does not have a time limit. The pain and suffering doesn’t run out after ten years, as being ‘no longer relevant'.”

Davey admitted to police he had downloaded the images using credit card details of customers at firms he worked at. A technician working on a computer at the nursery found Davey’s stash of images on its hard drive.

His mother Susan agreed his crimes were “irrelevant”.

She told The Argus: “I agree they’re irrelevant. He’s been cleared after ten years on the sex offenders' register. And it wasn’t him who did it anyway. It was other people, his friends, who got him into trouble.

“He came out of prison and has done nothing wrong since."

A spokesman for West Sussex County Council said Mr Davey did not return to live at the nursery after his time in jail.

He added: “We are aware of the convictions of Mr Davey and his historic link with Butterfly nursery.

“This was a privately owned nursery, rather than being run by WSCC, and the information from Ofsted indicates it closed in 2013.

“Whilst he was linked to the nursery, there was no evidence to suggest he lived on site."