Yorkshire Post

Lorry driver who took indecent images of child aged three jailed for 12 months

-

A YORKSHIRE lorry driver who took secret photos of a child aged just three on smartphone­s has been jailed for 12 months.

Geoffrey Crowther, from Boroughbri­dge, pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to multiple charges of making and taking indecent images of children.

The 72- year- old admitted making four indecent images of children in the most serious Category A, between June 2017 and November 2018, making three indecent images of children in Category B and making 10 indecent images of children in Category C during the same period.

He also pleaded guilty to having secretly taken pictures of a three- year- old girl on two different smartphone­s. The photos were in Category C and dated between April 30, 2017, and November 14, 2018.

Crowther was arrested in November 2018 and a search warrant was carried out at his home after police received intelligen­ce about suspicious online activity which linked back to him.

The investigat­ion spanned nearly 18 months and he was eventually charged on April 1 this year, pleading guilty to the offences last month.

Safeguardi­ng measures have now been put in place regarding the youngster whose photograph was taken, with police confirming there had been “no contact offences against the girl”.

A North Yorkshire Police detective said Crowther had, to this day, not been able to fully explain why he took the photos and had said he had got no sexual gratificat­ion out of them.

Crowther had shown genuine remorse since his initial arrest, but he had subsequent­ly not been forthcomin­g about what was contained on his digital devices, the officer said.

Detective Constable Fiona Saunderson, of the Online Abuse & Exploitati­on Team, said: “Geoffrey Crowther did something unthinkabl­e by taking indecent images of a young child. His despicable actions were a grotesque breach of trust which has devastated lives.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom