A paedophile escaped a jail sentence on Monday – because he wouldn't receive a sexual treatment programme from behind bars, writes a crown court correspondent.

Harry Pullin, 70, had admitted sexual activity with a 14-year-old boy when he appeared at Exeter Crown Court.

The sentencing judge said he agreed with the parents of the teenager that Pullin should be locked up for as long as possible for what he did.

But Judge Philip Wassall did not jail Pullin because the married pensioner would not receive the sexual treatment programme in custody.

Pullin, of Newton Abbot, abused the boy after plying him with some alcohol as they watched DVDs.

He told police he had touched the youth's private parts to 'warm him up' because it was cold.

Judge Wassall agreed with the victim's parents when they said that Pullin should be 'locked away for a very long time' to stop him repeating this kind of offence.

He was told the abuse had had a 'profound effect' on the boy and his family.

Judge Wassall also said he wanted 'to dispel some myths about this case' which included that he had done it on the spur of the moment, that it was not sexually motivated and that it was a 'merely fleeting touch'.

Judge Wassall said that even if he jailed Pullin for 12 months, 'with the best will in the world', people who deal with sex offenders in jail would not even reach him by the time he had served his sentence.

'That is the sad state of reality and he would come out untreated,' he said.

Pullin was jailed for 12 months suspended for two years. In that time he will be supervised by the probation service and go on a Sex Offenders' treatment programme.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders' register for ten years and given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning him from from having contact with children under 16.

Pullin was also given a restraining order to stay away from the victim and his family.