A man who put up posters saying two men were paedophiles has been sent to a mental hospital, writes Richard Abbot.

Bicester Magistrates' Court heard that Derrick Scott, 35, displayed posters around Bladon and Chipping Norton, alleging that the men had raped young children. Scott was sent to Oxford's Littlemore Hospital under the Mental Health Act for 12 weeks of psychiatric treatment.

Felicity McWilliam, prosecuting, said Scott knew his two victims and believed that he was the subject of a hate campaign. "He wanted these people to feel the same way he had felt," she said.

The first posters went up in Manor Road and Park Street in Bladon last August, alleging that one of the men had raped two girls aged seven and 13.

Later that month, similar posters went up in Wilcox Road, Chipping Norton, advising people to keep a look out for the child rapist.

The posters were labelled 'Oxfordshire League Against Paedophiles' and 'Protect Our Children'.

Police received many phone calls from worried residents who demanded to know whether the allegations were true. Ms McWilliam said: "It is obviously totally untrue. Both the aggrieved were extremely worried." After being questioned by police, Scott gave permission for two computers to be examined.

The artwork for one of the posters was found on a floppy disc.

Justin Houston-Roberts, defending, said: "I have been through the consequences with Mr Scott. He fully appreciates and understands what now must happen. The Littlemore Hospital awaits him."

Scott, of Wood Farm Road, Headington, Oxford, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two charges of fear or provocation of violence by displaying signs which were threatening, abusive or insulting.

He was given an interim order under section 38 of the Mental Health Act 1983, which means he will spend the next 12 weeks receiving treatment in hospital.