Father of two Brian Griffiths, who resigned his registration of Burton Latimer Day Nursery, which has two settings in Kettering, Northamptonshire, in July, walked free from Northamptonshire Crown Court last Friday with a community service order, which will be supervised for three years.
He was arrested on 7 April following raids on three premises in Burton Latimer. He pleaded guilty last month to one offence of possessing indecent pictures of children and 19 of making indecent photos of children.
Mr Griffiths will be required to undertake a sex offenders' treatment programme and will remain on the sex offenders' register for five years. He has also been banned 'indefinitely' from working with children and from using the internet, except for 'work or education purposes.'
Adam Goodacre, the court clerk, said, 'Mr Griffiths is free to carry on his life as normal but must attend meetings as directed by his probation officer at the stated time and date. If he fails to do so he could be brought back to court.'
The Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph reported that Mr Griffiths had downloaded 369 child porn pictures from the internet and escaped prison because of the illness of his wife, who is being treated for cancer.
An Ofsted spokesperson said, 'During the police investigation Mr Griffiths' bail conditions barred him from visiting the nursery or having association with anyone under 18 and Ofsted monitored the nursery through regular visits.'
'Mr Griffiths' wife and daughter became the registered owners and a condition of this registration was that the previous registered owner would not be present or have contact with children at the nursery.
'This arrangement remains in place, but following the outcome of the court case we are currently reviewing it.'