A judge has halved the length of a sexual offences prevention order on a man who molested a 14-year-old girl.

Ian McLaren, of Snarlton Lane, Melksham, had coerced teenagers into sending him indecent pictures of themselves over the internet and via a webcam.

And the 28-year-old also had more than 13,000 pictures and films of child pornography on his computer.

In January 2008, after pleading guilty to sexual activity and making and possessing indecent images of children, he was put on a three-year community order with a sex offenders programme and told he would be subject to the sexual offences prevention order restricting his liberty for 10 years.

But after hearing he had made progress in the past three years, a Swindon Crown Court judge cut the order by five years on Tuesday.

The terms of it were also adjusted so he could have contact with children as long as their parents or guardian knew about his past.

Amy Rudman, for McLaren, said that attempts to improve his social life would be helped if the restrictions were eased or lifted, but Judge Douglas Field, who agreed to allow contact with consent, refusing to relax the restrictions further, saying: “The order is there for a good reason and there is still a risk.”

Police on the continent alerted officers in the UK after he had downloaded a child abuse film.

After he was arrested and his computers seized, they were found to have 13,000 indecent images of children, compiled over four years and eight months, and one picture showed him indecently touching a 14-year-old girl on his bed.