HORRIFIC online chat of a child rapist boasting to another paedophile about his pleasure in abusing a four-year-old boy was too graphic to be heard in open court, a judge ruled.

Judge Colin Burn halted prosecution evidence in the case of Tyler Lyness whom he went on to imprison for ten-and-a-half years.

The judge said details of Lyness's 40-minute-long chat room conversion should not be read out by prosecutor Jayne Beckett because family members of the little boy were in the public gallery at Bradford Crown Court.

The court heard that Lyness, 30, of Williams Road, Steeton, photographed the child posing naked and dressed him in girls' clothing while sexually molesting him.

Mrs Beckett said he was arrested when indecent images of children were found by the police on his computer and phone. They included pictures of the little boy and Lyness told officers he was sexually attracted to children aged eight and under.

The child was able to tell the police Lyness had been "naughty to me".

He had photographed him naked, the boy told specially-trained officers.

Officers then discovered the chat room conversation between Lyness and another like-minded pervert in which he went into revolting detail about his abuse.

Lyness pleaded guilty at earlier court hearings to orally raping the boy, sexually assaulting him, taking indecent photos of him and possession of indecent photos of other children.

He was held in custody while awaiting sentence.

The little boy's mother fought back tears yesterday as she told the court "He doesn't understand that life's not normal any more."

She shook with emotion in the witness box after requesting to read out her victim personal statement in open court.

The woman said her son asked: "Would you cuddle me one more time?" when she dropped him off at school.

She said it was too soon to know how damaged he was by the abuse.

Lyness sat in the dock with head bowed, flanked by two prison officers.

His barrister, Gerald Hendron, said he had been emotionally damaged himself as a child.

Lyness became "consumed" with viewing indecent images of children.

"It was a need he could not control," Mr Hendron said.

Lyness had, very unusually, owned up to raping and abusing the child, Mr Hendron told the court.

"He puts himself in a very, very small category of individuals who face charges of this type.

"When he realised the gravity of what he had done, he pleaded guilty. He has a great sense of shame and realises he needs help. Most defendants bitterly deny it until the day they die," Mr Hendron said.

Judge Burn said the most damaging effects on the child might be yet to come.

"He was only four-years-old at the time and it is quite clear that your only real concern was sexual gratification for yourself, or shared sense of sexual gratification with others, and he was the innocent object of that," said the judge as he jailed Lyness.

He told him he would not be released before the end of the full jail term unless the Parole Board deemed him no longer a danger to children.

And he made him subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and told Lyness must sign on the sex offenders' register without limit of time.