councillor denies image charges
A COUNCILLOR accused of possessing thousands of indecent images of children told a jury that a man he met on Canal Street was responsible for the illegal material found on his mobile phones and computer.
Matthew Sephton, 42, is on trial facing three charges of downloading indecent images of children as well as possessing indecent photographs of children with a view to distribute to other people. He denies the charges.
Mr Sephton has been a councillor for the Altrincham ward for almost four years and worked as a teacher at Westmorland Primary School in Stockport.
He was arrested after the National Crime Agency (NCA) raided his home in Maximus Drive, Altrincham, on December 1, 2016. Two iPhones and an Apple iMac seized from the property were found to have thousands of indecent images of children and extreme pornography involving animals.
In total, 31 indecent videos of children and 3,774 indecent still images of children were discovered on the devices belonging to Mr Sephton.
Mr Sephton, appearing at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court yesterday, pleaded not guilty to downloading, possessing or distributing any of the illegal content, as well as a string of conversations on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger about indecent images of children.
Huw Edwards, prosecuting, told the jury: “These conversations quite clearly relate to a sexual interest in underage children, specifically boys.”
Mr Sephton denies any wrongdoing and instead blames a man who he had an ‘on-off’ relationship with, known only as Tom, who he met on Canal Street, the court heard.
When quizzed by his defence barrister, Silas Reid, how the images could have found their way to his devices, the defendant said he had lent ‘Tom’ his spare iPhone. The iPhone was found in Sephton’s bedside drawer during the NCA’s raid on his home, and contained indecent images of children as well as conversation on chat app ‘Telegram.’
“He must have left it there the last time he was with me,” Mr Sephton told the court. “I believe it was the Tom I had got to know. He was the only person who had been round my house a significant number of times to make it possible.”
The last time Mr Sephton saw Tom was the night before the NCA raided his home on December 1, 2016. He claims to have attempted to have tracked Tom down for four weeks in April last year after learning of the content found on his phones and computer. When the NCA raided his home, Mr Sephton claimed to be ‘absolutely dumbstruck.’
Mr Sephton is also charged with possessing a prohibited image of a child, namely 106 photos, and possessing extreme pornographic images.