Ex tips off police about man’s child abuse pics

INDECENT IMAGES FOUND AFTER POLICE RAID

POLICE discovered a man’s collection of child abuse images after his former partner raised the alarm.

Detectives discovered 18 illegal images on a device they confiscated from 34-year-old Joseph Cooper in the resulting raid on his Leicester home in November last year.

The images were graded by police experts as being in category C – the least serious.

Cooper, of Heather Road, Knighton, appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court to admit a single charge of possession of indecent images of children.

Prosecutor Sally Bedford said: “The defendant’s ex-partner reported concerns about him accessing material and officers went to his home and seized devices from him.

“Recovered from a device were 18 category C images. The defendant admitted these matters at the earliest opportunity.”

The Crown applied for a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to impose restrictions on Cooper’s access to the internet.

District Judge Nick Watson granted the order, which means Cooper will have to observe a number of restrictions on his online behaviour for the next five years.

He will have to register any devices which can access the internet with the police and his probationappointed offender manager. He will also have to make those devices available for inspection at any time.

The judge ordered Cooper to take part in a sex offender programme and rehabilitation work with probation officials.

He told Cooper: “The purpose of these is to protect others and to help you keep out of trouble in the future.

“I have noted that while these are indecent images, they are not of the highest category or of the worst type.

“That’s not to say it makes them any better, of course.”

Cooper was also placed on a curfew, which means he must be at home between 7pm and 7am for the next four months. This will be monitored by an electronic tag.

His solicitor, Jagvir Sangherre, told the court: “It appears to have happened as a result of frustration.

“He found some images he found particularly satisfying at that time and as such it was filling a void in his life.

“He is a man who has struggled to come to terms with what he has done.

“He does regret what he has done.” Cooper was also ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £90.

He is a man who has struggled to come to terms with what he has done

Jagvir Sangherre