MAN FOUND WITH MORE ILLEGAL IMAGES OF CHILDREN AVOIDS JAIL
A COURT has heard how a convicted paedophile was found with more illegal images of children during a routine check by police.Benjamin Whitehouse, of Manor Lane in Shipley, is now banned from having any internet-enabled devices and will have to register as a sex offender for the next decade.
But he avoided immediate custody after a judge heard the 40-year-old had sought out intervention to address his deviant behaviour.
148 illegal images of children found on phone Prosecutor Verity Barnes said Whitehouse was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) after being convicted of making indecent images of children in 2019.
During the visit in January 2023, a police officer found images of children, some naked, on Whitehouse’s phone.
Whitehouse admitted to police that he was looking at adult pornography for five hours a day but wanted some material deleting from his phone.
When examined the phone was found to contain 148 illegal images of children between the age of one year and 15 years in various categories including Category A, the most serious.
There were also extreme images, including bestiality, and prohibited images.
A virtual private network (VPN) had also been installed on the phone, which put Whitehouse in breach of the SHPO, and there were online messages and chats with others about swapping images of children.
'An opportunity here to break the cycle' Mitigating, Abigail Langford said in the three years since the police visit Whitehouse had sought out, and paid for, intervention to address his behaviour.
She said a previous course, delivered remotely during the covid pandemic, had not been as effective as planned.
She said Whitehouse acknowledged that he was spending “significant amounts of time online influenced in some way by alcohol use.” She requested that the court draw back from immediate custody and said there was “an opportunity here to break the cycle” if Whitehouse received support for his “demonstrable intention to be rehabilitated”.
'You have not learnt from your past experience' Sentencing Whitehouse, Mrs Recorder Taryn Turner said: “There was an unhealthy and prurient interest in discussions about young children passing between you and other people.
These images represent real children being harmed and abused, and they were aged between just one [year] and 15.
“Possessing these images … creates a market for further exploitation of children.
“You have not learnt from your past experience, and you continue to pose a risk.
The nature of your offending indicates a sexual interest in children and a reliance on the internet for social interaction.” 'This is the last-chance saloon here for you' She handed Whitehouse 24 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, imposed a new 10-year SHPO, and said he must register as a sex offender for the same period.
He must also complete 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days including the Building Choices programme as well as a six-month alcohol treatment requirement.
Recorder Turner ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the Samsung Galaxy phone.
She told Whitehouse: “This is the last-chance saloon here for you.
Count yourself a lucky man.”
