‘Pornography addict’ had shocking abuse videos
NEW ZEALAND AUTHORITIES ALERTED POLICE
A PORNOGRAPHY addict from Derbyshire uploaded sick videos which included a baby being sexually abused.
Derby Crown Court heard how Daniel Steadman accessed and then uploaded the horrific films to an internet cloud storage system.
His sentencing hearing was told that his was one of 4,000 email addresses authorities in New Zealand linked to this type of offending and which were passed on to the National Crime Agency in the UK.
But in a letter to the judge and in his interview with the probation service the 31-year-old, of Ashbourne, still denied his wrongdoing.
Handing Steadman a 15-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, Judge Robert Egbuna said: “In his pre-sentence report he effectively denies the offence and a worrying aspect of his letter (to me) is that he is still in some form of denial.
“These images were viewed and uploaded and these are very serious offences. The victims are extremely young and the sexual acts involved were of (the most serious) category A.
“It is not just an individual, there is group activity involved in these videos.”
David Earl, prosecuting, said the
National Crime Agency were alerted by authorities in New Zealand to 4,000 different UK email addresses which were being used to access child abuse images.
He said one of them was the defendant’s and officers went to his address to arrest him on November 16, 2019.
Mr Earl said: “Four videos of category A had been uploaded to a cloud storage system. Two of those contained moving images of a baby, one of a prepubescent girl.
“In interview, he denied uploading the material but he did admit the email address belonged to him.
“He said he had a bad year in 2019 and developed an addiction to pornography.”
Steadman, of Meadow Close, pleaded guilty to one count of making indecent images of children.
He has no previous convictions of any kind.
Debbie Leadbeater, mitigating, said: “He accepts he uploaded these items among other pornography he was viewing. “There are so few images and they were accessed so infrequently which shows it is not a big part of his viewing of pornography.”
As part of the suspended sentence, Judge Egbuna ordered Steadman to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and to attend 45 rehabilitation sessions with the probation service. Steadman will also be on the sex offender register for 10 years and was handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
These images were viewed and uploaded and these are very serious offences.
Judge Robert Egbuna