MAN HAD 100S OF INDECENT IMAGES ON A LAPTOP BEHIND SOFA
Sex offender ‘forgot’ to tell police about device
PERVERT Andrew Hickton downloaded hundreds of indecent images of children being sexually abused.
The 53-year-old was jailed for four years and eight months in 2015 for distributing indecent images of children being abused.
Following his release in 2017, officers went to his home to check on his welfare. But in January last year he failed to hand over a laptop which contained hundreds of indecent images of children.
He also installed software on the computer, which he was prohibited from doing under the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
Now Hickton has been jailed for 14 months at Stoke-on-trent Crown Court.
Prosecutor Caroline Harris said Hickton was placed on the sex offenders’ register on January 22, 2015 for distributing images of a child being abused and possessing more than 5,000 indecent images of children.
After he was released from prison they visited on January 3, 2019, and he said he never accessed pornographic material as he was afraid of what it might lead to.
Miss Harris said: “He said he had previously been attracted to children but did not think of them now. He was asked to provide any devices and he handed over a laptop and a mobile telephone.
“There appeared to be a laptop case behind the sofa. He was asked about it. He said it was an old laptop he used to back up music files. He told them it had been previously checked.
“It was taken and examined. Police found 120 indecent images of children at category A; 179 at category B; and 239 at category C. They also found software had been used on numerous occasions between July 2018 and January 3.”
In his interview Hickton denied hiding the laptop and said he had just forgotten to give it to the officers. He said he had the laptop since 2014 and had viewed some pornography of adult women.
Miss Harris added: “The laptop showed children aged one to 14 being raped by adult men.”
Hickton, of Regent Court, Whieldon Road, Mount Pleasant, pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images of children and three charges of breaching a SHPO.
Representing himself, Hickton said he was fully aware of what he was doing. He said: “I have no mental health problems. I made my own decisions and I made the wrong ones again. I am very sorry for what I have done.”
Jailing Hickton, Judge Sally Hancox said: “I have concerns about your behaviour in the future. I think, in fairness, you have those concerns yourself.”
Hickton will remain subject to a SHPO and is on the sex offenders’ register for life.