Pensioner caught with hoard of indecent images
APORN-OBSESSED pensioner secretly downloaded indecent images of children for seven years.
Alan Johnson had tried to stop looking at the illegal material but his sick urges got the better of him and he went back to doing it again.
When police turned up at his thenhome in Hexham, Northumberland, to arrest him, he immediately confessed to what he had been up to.
Now the 67-year-old, who feels “shame and self-loathing” as a result of his behaviour, has been given a suspended prison sentence at Newcastle Crown Court.
Police attended his home, acting on information they had received, in May 2019. Ashleigh Leach, prosecuting, said: “The reason for the visit was explained and he was asked if he had any knowledge of indecent images.
“He said ‘yeah it was me, I’ve been looking at stuff’.”
Miss Leach added: “While in the company of the police, the defendant made comments about viewing pornography, including children.
“He said he stopped viewing such images because he was worried about being caught but he had gradually started again.
“He said he would never harm a child and he had not shared images. He said pornography was just pornography and he didn’t differentiate between material containing children or adults.”
Police found 198 of the most serious, category A images and five videos, 215 category B images and one video and 1,130 category C images.
The age range of the children depicted was three months to 15 years, with most of them being 12 to 14 years old.
The material had been downloaded between 2012 and 2019.
He admitted possessing indecent images and also possessing extreme pornography in relation to a dog having sex with a woman.
Johnson also had 230 prohibited images – CGI pictures depicting children doing sex acts.
He had also downloaded software to try to delete what he had been up
to. Johnson, of Blenkinsopp View, Haltwhistle, Northumberland, who has no previous convictions, was sentenced to eight months suspended for two years with rehabilitation and must sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.
The court heard he is in poor health, with diabetes, asthma, COPD and arthritis and also has anxiety and depression.
He has lost his long-term relationship as a result of his offending.
James Howard, defending, said: “He became obsessed with all types of pornography and that led him down a very dark path. He was living a totally isolated existence, unable to share this dark secret with anyone, including his partner – or his ex-partner – with whom he was in a loving relationship.
“This is something that has destroyed his life.
“He feels shame and self-loathing. “He has good victim awareness and he apologises, particularly to his ex-partner, who he knows he has hurt enormously, and also to the police and court for taking up valuable resources.
“He is very sorry indeed.”
He became obsessed with all types of pornography James Howard, defending