Daniel Hucknall, of Minster Close, pleaded guilty to the charges when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on November 27 last year.

But his marathon court case was hit by several adjournments as attempts were made to diagnose a condition which may have explained his behaviour.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that Hucknall in fact suffers from Asperger's syndrome – a condition characterised by obsessive behaviour and a lack of non-verbal communication skills.

Hucknall pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two boys, aged 13 and 14, by touching them on December 13 2006.

He also admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence against two other boys, aged 14, in Minster Close on January 28 2007.

Hucknall, who originally denied the offences, was sentenced to nine months, suspended for two years, with a two-year supervisionary order.

Jonathan Janes (prosecuting) told the court that in the first charge, Hucknall went up to two boys at Hucknall Leisure Centre and said they would be involved in a Nottingham Forest Football Club photo-shoot. Both were excited.

Hucknall asked them to roll up their trousers from the lower part of their legs and lift up their shirts to reveal their torsos.

He said this was because make-up artists and photographers would need to know if they had any skin blemishes.

Hucknall touched both boys on the legs and torsos, said Mr Janes. They were not particularly traumatised by the experience but thought it was all a bit sickening. One of them claimed he felt 'stressed and stupid.'

Questioned by police, Hucknall denied it happened in this way. He said the boys had followed him into toilets and called him names.

Turning to the second charge, Mr Janes said Hucknall told two other boys he was a BBC TV correspondent wanting to film lads doing tricks with skateboards.

He told them they would receive sweets, chocolate and £25 cash if they took part. But he said they should not wear too much clothing because that would make for too much washing.

He became insistent that they went to Papplewick Woods straight away and he invited one of the boys to pedal into a lake on his bike.

Asked for identification, he said he would collect it the next day. The mother of one of the boys then drove up.

Hucknall, who has been involved in several community initiatives, including Radio Hucknall, later claimed he asked the boys to be part of a college course but denied the other allegations.

Hucknall was convicted after a trial in May 2006 of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in a sexual activity.

He originally denied asking a boy of 11 to go mud-wresting with him in boxer shorts at Newstead Abbey and wash off naked in the lake.

It was alleged in the same case that he also asked the youngster to go with him behind Hucknall's Nabbs Lane shops and to take off his top to show his muscles.

Hucknall's solicitor, Dawn Pritchard, said that at the time of the offences, he had not been diagnosed with the condition he was now found to have.

She told the court that a doctor had spent many hours with him to diagnose his condition.

Miss Pritchard said Hucknall now recognised that his behaviour towards the boys was wrong and he had committed no further offences.

She added that funding was being sought for Hucknall to receive help from an Asperger's syndrome team. "It is early stages but progress is being made," she said.

After hearing that Hucknall had a fear of custody, Judge Michael Stokes said: "I will tell you immediately that I am not going to send you to prison.

"You are someone of great concern to the court. But I agree with the prosecution that your offending was right at the lower end of sexual touching.

"What concerns the court is a possible repetition of this offending. On the other hand, a doctor has clearly diagnosed that you are suffering from Asperger's syndrome. This explains, to some degree at least, your conduct on those occasions.

"With regard to any risk you represent, I don't consider this reaches the middle, never mind the upper, end of the spectrum.

"Well over a year has passed since you offended and the fact that you are terrified of going into custody may have had some controlling effect on your behaviour.

"At the moment, no appropriate package has been put together to provide structure and order someone with your disability requires. As always, the probation service come in and do what they can.

"If such a structure can be put in place and properly policed, that will alleviate the probation service's duties in time."

Hucknall, who is on the sex offenders' register until 2011, was disqualified from working in any capacity with anyone under 16 or getting involved with schools or other organisations involving children.