PERVERT USED DARK WEB TO VIEW IMAGE OF A BABY BEING ABUSED
Man, 41, jailed after breaching court order
SEX offender Adam Park has been jailed after he breached a court order and downloaded an indecent image of a child.
The 41-year-old was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in 2016 for making and possessing indecent images of children.
But police seized his computer shortly before the order was due to expire in April 2021. It was analysed and experts found an indecent image of a baby being sexually abused had been viewed on the device.
The analysis also concluded that Park had used a Tor browser to access the dark web. Now Park has been jailed for 20 months at Stoke-on-trent Crown Court.
Prosecutor Mark Brookes said Park was made the subject of a three year community order and a five year SHPO in 2016 for making indecent images of children and possessing indecent images of children. The order was due to expire on April 29, 2021. But he breached it by deleting internet history and not retaining internet history by using the Tor app.
Mr Brookes said a police risk assessor visited Park’s home to carry out a risk assessment on April 18, 2020. Police returned on April 6, 2021 and the officer inspected a computer tower and Park was arrested.
It was analysed and a report on March 29 this year found an indecent image had been accessed. It was a category A – the most serious, and involved an adult man sexually abusing a one-year-old child.
Mr Brookes added: “The report concluded he used Tor, a streaming facility enabling online anonymity.”
Park, of Newmount Road, Fenton, pleaded guilty to two charges of breaching an SHPO and making an indecent image of a child.
Hamish Noble, mitigating, said Park has had a problem with alcohol.
Mr Noble said: “He was living with his parents. He had no social outlets. He has never had a long term relationship. He had a job he found stressful. He felt put upon by colleagues and bosses.
“He had dyslexia as a child and was bullied at school. He used the Tor browser. He accepts accessing the category A image.
“The opinion of the report is that he can be managed in the community.”
Judge David Fletcher said: “You were convicted in 2016 of a number of offences of possession of indecent images of children.
“You were coming to the end of the notification period when there was a visit by the officer overseeing your compliance and that resulted in the information we now have before us.
“There were two breaches of the SHPO. The first related to your deletion of internet history and also utilising the Tor system on your computer. It enabled you to access the dark web. It is clear there was an image, a moving image of a child, probably one of the worst images anyone can imagine, placed on the system. The real concern I have is the lack of real progress following the order made in 2016. It is a very serious breach.”
Park will serve half the sentence in custody and the rest on licence. He was made the subject of an SHPO for 10 years.