A dangerous paedophile with a fetish for girls’ knickers has been detained indefinitely in a secure hospital after indecently exposing himself outside a Bradford nursery school Paul Collins pulled down his trousers and “flashed” at a terrified woman only yards from Wesley House Day Nursery in Cross Road, Idle, as a young child played on grass nearby.

Collins, 50, was on police bail at the time for breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order made by Bradford magistrates on December 1, 2008, for stealing children’s knickers. He was convicted in 1985 of indecently assaulting a boy and a girl.

Collins, of Gerrard House, Fairhaven Green, Thorpe Edge, Bradford, pleaded guilty to twice breaching the Sexual Offences Order and an offence of indecent exposure.

Magistrates had sent his case to the Crown Court for sentence.

Judge Jonathan Rose yesterday made a hospital order under the Mental Health Act detaining Collins in a secure unit unless and until doctors rule he is no longer a serious risk to the public. The court heard he had already been admitted to a mental health unit from Leeds Prison.

Reports to the court from specialist doctors labelled him a recurrent sex offender who did not respond to support in the community.

Collins had a learning disability and a personality disorder, displaying fetishism and exhibitionism, the reports stated.

Prosecutor Emma Downing said the Sexual Offences Prevention Order barred Collins from being in the company of children or going near to schools.

On Sunday, June 19, an off-duty probation officer attending a service at Holy Trinity Church, Idle, spotted Collins in a group of about 16 young worshippers, including toddlers and children aged up to 12.

He helped himself to a drink and biscuits and stayed for 25 minutes before the officer made herself known to him and he left.

He had been charged and bailed when he indecently exposed himself outside the nursery school on July 13.

Miss Downing said Collins committed the offence near to a children’s play area outside the building. He was arrested the next day and held in custody.

Collins stood in the dock, flanked by three hospital staff and a security officer, as Judge Rose told him: “You have an inability to control the particular urges that appear to drive you.”

The judge told an impassive Collins that he needed “a prolonged period of treatment in a specialist unit”.

“You would otherwise pose a significant risk of serious harm to members of the public,” the judge told him.