Paedophile spared jail as it would be ‘drain on public money’
TRAINEE POLICEMAN CAUGHT WITH ‘WORST FORM’ OF CHILD ABUSE IMAGES
A TRAINEE policeman who downloaded the ‘worst form’ of child abuse has avoided prison after a judge suggested jailing him would be a ‘drain’ on public money.
Peter McIlduff, 39, was arrested after detectives learned he was communicating with a known paedophile in an internet chat room where child abuse pictures and films were traded.
Officers seized a laptop from McIlduff’s locker at Wythenshawe Police Station plus other devices from his rented digs in Stockport and found 500 explicit pictures of youngsters being abused – including 69 ‘category A’ images, described by the judge as the ‘worst form of this depraved filth.’
Various phrases were found in conjunction with the images including ‘13 year old paedo-children porn.’
The pictures were downloaded over a three-year period between 2015 and 2018 although McIlduff who operated under the pseudonym ‘DreamCatcher003’ said he had deleted them before he started his formal training with Greater Manchester Police. He has since sought counselling.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, McIlduff, from Halifax, West Yorks, pleaded guilty to making and possessing indecent images of a child and was given 12 months in jail, suspended for two years. He will also enrol on a two-year sex offenders programme.
Judge Paul Lawton told him: ‘’You are a convicted paedophile and you acknowledge that yourself but you have attended to getting assistance of a sort which stops you from going to custody. You have also pleaded guilty and accept you want help for your genuine real issues, namely your attraction to underage children. “As there has been a rise in defendants going to prison, there is a drain on resources and staff. Had you been given immediate imprisonment, you would have been released after six months from custody and you would not have received the service that can help you in custody and you would have received no assistance. Therefore I can suspend that sentence.’’ He added: “Looking at a man in your position, you had a good record. You were going to be a police officer prior to this crime in which child pornography was found between March 2015 and March 2018 – you downloaded many, many indecent images of children, 69 of which were category A images, which is the worst form of this depraved filth. From over a three-year period you abused images of children between the ages of three and 15. These were generally of a category of depravity which you used for your own sexual satisfaction.”
Jon Close, defending, said: “He accepts exactly why he was looking at the images, he wants to stop.”
McIlduff was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for five years and made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.
These (images) were generally from a category of depravity you used for your sexual satisfaction Judge Paul Lawton