A FARNHAM man has been given a suspended sentence after snapping a series of lewd pictures of young girls on Bournemouth beach last summer. Gerald Richardson, 47, a technician from Firgrove Hill, was handed a three-month jail term, suspended for two years, and ordered to attend a sex offenders' clinic at Bournemouth Crown Court last Friday. The father of one took 47 snaps of girls aged between 7 and 13 in varying states of undress during a two-day holiday in July of last year. Using two concealed digital cameras hidden under a coat, Richardson took "upskirt" images of girls in their underwear from the floor, and also of minors in their bikinis. However, eagle-eyed grandfather Darren Tanner caught Richardson in the act, and promptly called police. While attempting to walk away from the scene, officers detained Richardson before seizing a digital camera. On closer inspection of the device, he fled along the promenade, with witnesses seeing the disposal of a second camera, before his arrest. Under questioning, Richardson could not say why he took the pictures, or what their purpose was. Following examination of the cameras, Dorset Police's hi-tech crime unit found or recovered 47 images, which Richardson admitted taking, and outraging public decency on July 16 and 17. Citing depression following the break up of a 13-year marriage and latterly another relationship, Nigel Mitchell, defending, admitted that Richardson was drinking heavily. Judge Stephen Climie told Richardson: "I don't know what was going on in your mind when you began to take photographs of young children on the beach at Bournemouth. You knew that what you were doing was completely wrong and that is why your methods were surreptitious and devious." Handing out the suspended three-month prison sentence, the judge also imposed attendance ast a sex offender programme, along with a supervision order for two years, while sleeping at an approved address. "The best way to protect children is to make sure that those who are tempted to do what you did know what the potential consequences are. If you step out of line I promise you will go straight downstairs," he warned.