Man caught with images of child sexual abuse

Judge rules that there is a chance for 67-year-old’s rehabilitation

A MAN was caught with images depicting children as young as five being sexually abused.

Police who raided the 67-year-old’s Newbury home found a massive hoard of images, both still photographs and videos.

Many of them were in Category A, the most depraved, Reading Crown Court heard.

In the dock on Tuesday, August 30, was Kevin Pollock of Mulberry Court, off Oddfellows Road.

Ellie Sheahan, prosecuting, said officers who seized Pollock’s online devices discovered he had been actively searching for the material and had registered with a website known to contain it.

She said an aggravating factor was the young age of some of the victims and added: “The youngest was aged around five years – and that was a Category A video, which Your Honour will take into account when sentencing.”

Pollock admitted having 82 images and seven videos of child abuse in Category A.

He further pleaded guilty to possessing 105 images and four videos of Category B and 432 images and three videos in Category C.

Rebecca Fairburn, defending, said Pollock had lost his wife in 2017, after 30 years of marriage.

She pointed out that her client had no previous convictions and that the offending had happened during coronavirus lockdown periods when Pollock, who has a serious heart condition, felt particularly isolated.

The court heard Pollock had worked all his life, both for the Ministry of Defence and also as a medical records clerk for various local hospitals.

Ms Fairburn said: “He doesn’t suggest in any way his isolation and grief led to the offending in this case, but he did become very isolated during lockdown.

“He has accessed counselling through talking therapy and demonstrates genuine remorse and understanding of the incredibly catastrophic harm accessing images such as these does to the children concerned.

“He genuinely feels guilty for what he has done.”

She said that Pollock’s isolation had only increased and explained: “His offender manager, because of the nature of the offending, had to inform those who live in the vicinity of where he lives.

“That has caused more friction and he has found himself on the wrong side of verbal abuse which has made him change his habits and his lifestyle.”

Ms Fairburn asked the court to take the view that any ongoing risk her client posed regards reoffending could be managed in the community, rather than in prison.

Judge Paul Dugdale told Pollock: “Each image of a child, particularly the Category A images depicting sexual contact with an adult, is an instance of a child being sexually abused.

“The ability of those images to be spread among the population of the world through the internet is further abuse of that child – you need to understand that.”

He added: “This kind of offending is not harmless, in any way.”

Judge Dugdale noted that Pollock had not shared the images with others and acknowledged that a serious stroke had affected his ability to make decisions.

He said, on balance, that there was a chance for rehabilitation in Pollock’s case.

Judge Dugdale sentenced Pollock to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

In addition, he ordered him to undergo treatment and to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

Pollock was made subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Finally, he was ordered to pay £425 costs.