Man caught with 17,000 illegal images of children

52-YEAR-OLD GETS PRISON TERM OF TWO YEARS, EIGHT MONTHS

MORE than 17,000 illegal images of children were found by the police when they seized two mobile phones from a 52-year-old man.

Darren Smith made a “full and frank confession” to the officers, Leicester Crown Court was told.

All the images were downloaded from the internet and some featured babies and youngsters in distress.

Lynsey Knott, prosecuting, said due to such a large number of images being found, experts categorized a sample of 3,000 into levels of seriousness.

Smith, formerly of Sycamore Close, Burbage, admitted three counts of possessing indecent images of children, between December 2019 and July last year.

They related to 1,173 images in the most serious category, class A, of which 716 were video clips, 1,414 in class B, of which 159 were moving images, and 1,228 in class C, of which 159 were movies.

Smith also admitted distributing 15 class A images to others, three in category B, 10 in category C, and one extreme pornographic image, in July last year.

He pleaded guilty to possessing 33 prohibited images of children, of which six were movies, and possessing 20 extreme pornographic images, of which six were videos.

Miss Knott said the images involved a large number of child victims, from babies to teenagers.

She said: “The defendant also went on to internet chat sites with sharing applications, which allowed images to be stored and shared.

“A number of applications were hidden and only viewable with passwords.”

The police found 884 chat messages involving Smith in discussions about children.

When interviewed, the defendant confessed to downloading the images and accepted having “sexual fantasy chats” about children.

Oliver Woolhouse, mitigating, said Smith, who had no previous convictions, was having cancer treatment.

Smith genuinely regretted his online activity, that developed from an interest in legal pornography, and he had not viewed many of the images he downloaded, Mr Woolhouse said.

He said Smith felt relieved at being caught, so he could get help.

Smith had already sought therapy and counselling, with support from those closest to him, who were aware of the offences.

Mr Woolhouse said: “They don’t condone what he’s done but are supportive. He was frank and owned up when his phones were seized, even before they were examined.

“He’s a hard-working man who has lost his good name and good character and faces losing his home and his job.”

Sentencing, Recorder Martin Butterworth said: “The aggravating feature is the age and vulnerability of the children.

“I am dealing with you for ‘no contact’ offences but consumers like you cause others to create such images which inflict untold harm and damage upon the children.”

Smith was jailed for two years and eight months. He was placed on a sexual harm prevention order and will have to enlist on a sex offender register indefinitely.