ALFRED BALE

80-YEAR-OLD MAN JAILED FOR POSSESSION OF OVER 1,000 CHILD ABUSE IMAGES

An 80-year-old paedophile was found in possession of more than 1,000 sickening images of children as young as three years old being abused.

He also made disgusting searches on the internet for "young teen boys" and "old men young boys".Alfred Bale was visited by police at his home in Newport on September 10 last year and initially refused to allow officers to enter his address causing them to snap the lock.

After they gained entry, a search was carried out and items including an Acer desktop, a Lenovo laptop, and a phone were seized and examined.At Cardiff Crown Court, it was revealed that more than 1,100 indecent images of children were discovered on Bale's devices, including 256 category A images, 271 category B images, and 584 category C images.

Also found were 40 extreme pornographic images and 346 images that were "indicative of children".

One of the images depicted a three-year-old girl being raped by an adult man.

Internet search terms such as "young teen boys", "old men young boys", "naked boy", and "animals sex with men" were made on various devices, including Bale's.Prosecutor Christopher Evans stated that the dates of the images being downloaded went as far back as 2006.

In addition, anti-forensic software was present on Bale's devices.Bale, of Malmesbury Close, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images and one count of possessing extreme pornography.

He has six previous convictions, including past offences of making indecent images.In mitigation, Martha Smith-Higgins said Bale had health issues, including two heart attacks, two strokes, and two incidents of bleeding on the brain, which led him to "falling back into old habits".Judge Eugene Egan sentenced Bale to 10 months imprisonment, suspended for 21 months, and imposed a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement, a £500 fine, and ordered him to pay £150 court costs.

Bale is also subject to sex offender notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

The judge emphasized the serious nature of the crimes, stating: "The reality of each of these cases is a sad truth: somewhere in the world, a real child was sexually abused to create the content you saw.

The rationale behind this disgusting behaviour is that there are warped people interested in such content.

You should ponder on that and the plight of those poor children."