A good Samaritan helped bring a "dangerous" paedophile to justice, after witnessing him abusing a five-year-old in broad daylight.

Casey Bond, 22, of Highfield, Bracknell, was jailed today (March 25) after pleading guilty to a string of charges.

These included attempted sexual communication with a child, attempting to incite a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity, sexual assault on a child under the age of 13 and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

Sentencing Bond today, Judge Rachel Drake described him as a "dangerous" offender, who posed an ongoing risk to children.

The court heard that, in May last year, a member of the public saw Bond sat with a child on his knee. He was inappropriately touching the boy - and the abuse took place in broad daylight.

The witness alerted the victim's parents, who reported the matter to the police.

It transpired that Bond had twice been arrested in 2021 over graphic social media communications, in which he sent videos of himself masturbating to users he believed to be children.

It turned out that the accounts were actually decoys run by adult 'paedophile hunters'.

Judge Drake said of these offences: "The fact [is] that he was communicating in December with decoy children, having been arrested and interviewed twice in relation to those he was communicating with in May."

Defence barrister Nadia Chbat noted that Bond has an IQ of 68 - an extremely low score - and that his persistent offending demonstrates a lack of impulse control.

He has been in care since the age of 10.

Mrs Chbat said: "He clearly is struggling, and continues to struggle to understand why he has committed the offences he has."

But the judge said that Bond's conduct showed him to be a highly dangerous offender, whose conduct would require constant supervision even outside prison.

She told Mrs Chbat: "The phrase you have used is 'impulsive' behaviour - and the reality is that his 'impulsive' behaviour is dangerous.

"Without controls and restrictions placed upon him, he's unable himself to control and monitor his own behaviour."

Bond denied the 2023 abuse charges until the first day of trial - when DNA evidence was produced from his victim's underwear.

Judge Drake said this dragged the case out, and would have caused the boy distress.

She said of the victim: "I have heard personal statements from his mother, and she's rightly proud of him, because he showed extreme bravery in speaking out to her, speaking out to police officers at interview, and completing cross-examination."

In addition to a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence, Bond must also serve a three-and-a-half-year extended licence period upon release. This was imposed by the judge due to the severity of his offending.

He will be made to register as a sex offender for life, and will also be made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Officers seized a pair of handcuffs from Bond's home - and Judge Drake has ordered that these be destroyed.