A SERIAL pervert who once worked as a teacher in the North-East mocked a prison treatment programme he was on saying it was “run by fools” , a court was told.

Gary Anderson admitted to police he was sexually attracted to girls aged eight to 12 after officers raided his Derby home and found 810 indecent images of children.

He was jailed by a Derby Crown Court judge for nine months yesterday after his third conviction, following previous jail sentences imposed in 2000 and 2003 for similar offences.

Anderson, 44, who changed his name from Simeon Hope following his arrest in 2002, wrote an open letter to The Northern Echo in 1998 – before any of his convictions – complaining that “children were over-protected by society”.

The former Green Party candidate moved from Brandon, County Durham, to Derbyshire following his release from prison in 2001.

Police said yesterday they were delighted Anderson, of Osmaston Road, Derby, had been issued with a sexual offences prevention order, meaning they can monitor him more closely on his release from prison.

Anderson pleaded guilty to eight counts of either making or possessing images of children.

The court heard that during a police interview following his arrest last year, he told officers he wanted to re-offend and a treatment course he had been on in prison to understand better his sexual urges was “run by fools”.

Passing sentence, Recorder Peter Joyce said: “He [Anderson] blames society’s attitudes rather than believing he is in the wrong.

“Here is a man who fantasises about young girls in a perverted manner.

“He says he feels persecuted [for his urges] in the same way that gay people did.

“Simply having these urges, having these thoughts, is wrong.”

The court heard that Anderson was caught with more than 5,000 indecent images on a computer and three photo albums in 1999, for which he was jailed for 18 months by Durham Crown Court.

After being released, he was then sentenced to another 18 months by Derby Crown Court and disqualified from working with children for life after officers discovered 149 indecent images, again on a computer.