Man with Nappy Fetish Jailed

Michael Bix dressed up in a child's nappy to fuel his sick fantasies. He even filmed himself in one as he committed a depraved act.

His secret fetish was uncovered when police raided his home and discovered he had thousands of pictures of child sex abuse on his computer and another laptop. At Luton Crown Court on Friday, Bix, 43, of Valley Road in Codicote appeared for sentence.

In June he had been convicted at North Herts Magistrates' Court of 18 counts of making indecent photographs of children, two counts of distributing indecent photos of youngsters and four charges of possessing indecent images.

Janet Tansley, prosecuting, told the court how on September 26 last year officers from Herts Police's paedophile investigation and child abuse unit went to Bix's home with a search warrant.

The laptop, the computer and DVDs were taken away. Officers interviewed Bix and discovered he had been looking at sickening images of child sex abuse for around six years.

He said it began after "talking" to someone in an internet chat room. Bix said he began searching for internet sites himself where he could find illegal material in both video clip form and still images. He said he had been attracted to pre-adolescent youngsters.

His practice, he said, was to save material, view it and then delete it and he estimated that over the year leading up to his arrest he had viewed some 50 images and movies. Bix also told the officers he had sent a child sex abuse movie to others.

Miss Tansley said the film showed a man who was in his 40s having sex with a girl aged around nine. Bix told officers he had been intending to visit his doctor because he felt he needed help. But he admitted in the six years he had been viewing the material he had never visited the surgery.

The prosecutor said Bix was adamant that he would never actually touch a child himself. The court then heard how he admitted having a particular fetish for babies in nappies.

But it went further and Bix told how he would act out the fetish by dressing up in a nappy and then filming himself over a webcam committing a depraved act.

He admitted that putting on a nappy aroused him sexually.

The footage was sent to other like-minded adults but officers were able to view it. Police also found more than 4,000 pictures on the computer of babies in nappies.

In addition there were hundreds of child sex abuse images involving children from toddlers up to eight years old. Some of the images found were at the very worst level of depravity.

The court heard the police were also concerned about internet chat room conversations Bix had had with his girlfriend which suggested child sex abuse might be taking place.

However, on closer questioning Bix maintained he had never touched a child. Barrister James Wing for Bix said "He is well aware he deserves to be punished."

He said the more extreme images found by police on the computers had in fact disgusted Bix. "He was more interested in children in nappies," he said. Mr Wing said it was following the break-up of his marriage that the defendant had started drinking, suffered depression and run up debts.

"He took refuge in alcohol and sex next to his computer," he said. "The paedophiles he spoke to on line were much more experienced and dangerous than he was and they drew him along."

He added: "He has no desire to ever get involved in this horrible world again."

Passing sentence Judge Richard Foster said the "real seriousness" of the case was the fact that the children shown in the pictures and films were "real people". These youngsters, said the judge, had been subjected to terrible abuse for the sexual gratification of Bix.

In one video clip the judge said it was possible to hear the young girl shown shouting out "No" as she was being abused. "That to me sums up the seriousness of this offence," said the judge.

Bix was jailed for two years

The judge also made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order which prevents Bix from having any unsupervised contact with a child aged 16 or under, or visiting any internet sites containing images of child sex abuse.

The Comet 24