Man jailed over 2.2m indecent images

A PENSIONER who amassed one of the largest known hauls of indecent images in England and Wales has been jailed for more than 12 years.

Officers found 2.2 million indecent images on SD cards, laptops and tablets – as well as a “secret underground bunker” containing weapons and ammunition – when they searched the home of Geoffrey Crossland in North Yorkshire.

Crossland, 70, of Padside Green Farm in Harrogate, was sentenced at York Crown Court to 12 years and eight months as judge Andrew Stubbs QC said the “scale of the depravity” the images depicted was hard for the public to understand.

A court heard how the pensioner had “painstakingly categorised” the images and had written himself lists of the best websites from which to access sexual pictures and videos of children.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the haul of images is one of the largest known in England and Wales, with North Yorkshire Police describing as the largest quantity to be seized in the county.

The material was discovered when officers searched his home last October where they found a “secret underground bunker” containing weapons and ammunition.

Crossland pleaded guilty to six charges of possessing prohibited firearms, two charges of possessing firearms without the relevant certificate, two counts of possessing ammunition without the relevant certificate, and one count of possessing a shotgun without the relevant certificate. He had previously admitted three counts of making indecent images.

Susannah Proctor, defending, said there was no evidence Crossland had any intention to cause harm with the weapons and ammunition.