A PROBATION officer who said a sex offender shouldn't have to do unpaid work because he might 'get stick from the public' has been told to think again.

John Fielden, 55, was ordered to do 75 hours of unpaid work for possessing hundreds of pictures of child abuse, having been jailed for similar matters in the past.

But before he had even been tried out on the order the same probation officer who said Fielden was suitable for the punishment has changed her mind.

She says she doesn't want him to do it because of publicity surrounding his convictions and applied to Swindon Crown Court to have it removed.

But a judge said he was worried at the change of heart, pointing out 'It goes with the territory: sex offenders get stick from the public'.

Mark Ashley, representing probation, said he had been asked to request an alteration to the community order which was imposed last month.

"It has become widely known in his local community that he has committed these offences," he told the court.

"Now that the publicity of the sentence is out there he has become a public enemy."

He said Fielden claimed he had been subject to abuse outside his house with people following him home after finding out about his conviction.

"If he were to work in a charity shop, in a public area, it could give rise to security issues," Mr Ashley said.

"Whether there is some non public work he can do: I haven't got an answer to that question."

Recorder Stephen Hall said he was unhappy with the application particularly as the same officer who suggested it as an alternative to custody in the pre-sentence report was now trying to stop it.

Speaking of his concerns he said: "The first is the close proximity to the sentence and the second is that unpaid work was recommended in the report.

"The defendant was suitable, there was no impediment. It suggests there is stick going on at home and therefore that transfers it to unpaid work.

"All of this taken together gave me concern so I would need to be persuaded.

"It is just curious that that is what was recommended: that the judge followed that recommendation.

"It goes with the territory: sex offenders get stick from the public.

"I don't want to be difficult but I think you understand the response of the bench. I can either simply put this back so further inquiries can be made.

"What I will do is refuse it in these circumstances. I take it in the mean time there have been no attempts of undertaking the unpaid work.

"You understand the unease I have with this as it is such a recent order. The probation will look at it."

He said the probation service could still bring the matter back before he court and the judge who imposed the order could consider it.

Fielden, of Kirkstall Close, Toothill, was put on a two-year community order with supervision, a sex offender programme and the unpaid work after he admitted two counts of possessing indecent images of children.

In May 2003 he was sentenced to eight months in prison with a two year extended licence after he admitted similar matters.

Then in January 2014 police again raided his home and seized his computer along with three USB drives.

As well as finding 977 indecent images of children they also discovered he had installed software which had successfully destroyed the machine's history.

The program removed traces of what had been viewed from unallocated clusters of the hard drive, which is where data remains after the user has deleted it.