Man caught with indecent images blamed others

A JUDGE decided not to impose a curfew on a Coventry man who had downloaded indecent images of children – because he was already “probably spending too much time in the house”.

Adrian Kenny had originally denied three charges of making indecent images of children, claiming other people had access to his computer.

But Kenny, 35, of Easedale Close, Styvechale, later changed his pleas at Warwick Crown Court to guilty, and was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for two years.

Deputy Judge Richard Griffith-Jones also ordered him to take part in rehabilitation activities for 20 days, to register as a sex offender for ten years and to pay £600 costs.

The judge told Kenny: “I hope that you are ashamed; you ought to be.

“You allowed yourself to travel along a road to a place where you are providing a market as a consumer for the exploitation of little children.

“They are real children. I don’t know where they are in the world, but try to imagine when you were three or four that sort of thing happening to you.

Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said that in June last year the police went to Kenny’s home where they asked him whether he had been using filesharing software, and he said he had.

His laptop and another device were seized, but when he was interviewed before they had been analysed, he claimed he had never seen any indecent images of children.

But on the devices, officers subsequently found indecent images, including seven stills in category A the most severe category - showing children as young as four.

There were 13 category B stills of children and four category C stills of children.

In addition, the officers found he had used search terms which indicated he had been searching for images of children.

Kenny was interviewed again and claimed he had never used the filesharing system which had been used to download the images.

He asserted that friends and family also had access to his computer - and pleaded not guilty when he first appeared in court, added Mr Simpson.

Addressing the judge in the case, defence barrister Peter Cooper said: “I do seek some credit for his guilty pleas. It can’t be full credit, but Your Honour knows how difficult it is for people to bring themselves to admit what they’ve done in cases like this.” Mr Cooper said that although the pre-sentence report had Kenny admitting downloading on only two occasions, he accepted it was something he had done on a number of occasions over a period of time. “He accepts he used search terms which were apt to obtain this type of image, and of course it sometimes throws up images of very young children indeed, but the search terms were not apt to select very young children,” said Mr Cooper.

He Cooper added that Kenny, who was ashamed of what he had done, is considered to pose a low risk of reoffending and could be made subject to a suspended sentence with conditions outlined in a pre-sentence report.

Judge Griffith-Jones commented: “I’m not going to impose a curfew. He’s probably spending too much time in the house. That’s probably part of the problem.” And he told Kenny: “The public revulsion, which is understandable, compels me to pass a sentence of imprisonment – but it is one I intend to suspend.

“I do so for these reasons: you did eventually plead guilty; because you are beginning to face up to it there is a chance you can be helped; and because I sense, in the way you live your life, a vulnerability, reflected in excessive drinking.”