Children’s carer caught with almost 1,500 child abuse images

A CARER was caught distributing hundreds of sickening indecent images of children as young as three.

Liam Brown, 38, pictured left, was found with almost 1,500 images of young children, including “category A” videos, on electronic devices seized from his home in Bridgend.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday was told police received information about a Dropbox account under the name “Care Bear Brown” which had uploaded 22 indecent images.

The account was traced to Brown’s home in Charles Street, which he shared with his mother and stepfather. When police officers explained why they were there, the defendant said he was responsible for the material.

He admitted having an addiction to the images and said: “I’m going to lose my job – it’s my fault.”

Three electronic devices were seized including an iPad, a mobile phone, and a laptop, all of which were found to contain indecent images of children of category A, B and C. In total, Brown was found to be in possession of 1,442 indecent images.

One of the children appearing in some of the category A images was described as being as young as three. An officer in the case described the images as “some of the worst” he had found.

Police also found evidence that Brown had been distributing the images through Dropbox and various chat rooms by providing links to the images.

He later pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing indecent images of children, three counts of possessing indecent images of children, a count of possessing prohibited images of children, a count of possessing an extreme pornographic image, and possession of a controlled class B drug.

The court heard Brown was previously employed as a carer for teenage children with behavioural problems and was described by defence barrister Andrew Davies as “hard working” in the role. There was no allegation Brown had viewed indecent images of children in his care.

Sentencing, Judge Rees dismissed Brown’s claim he was suffering from an addiction as a “way of excusing himself for being unable to control his impulses”.

Brown was sentenced to a total of two years in prison and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for a period of 10 years.