CLIFFORD THOMAS AND HIS SICK STASH OF DEPRAVED CHILD ABUSE IMAGES
A man who stored tens of thousands of images depicting child abuse on his computer was visibly upset in court as he was sentenced to nine months of imprisonment.Clifford Thomas, 35 years old from Ropers Lane, Wareham, was found sleeping in his bed when police from Dorset executed a search warrant at his residence, which he shared with his parents, in June 2013.
During the court hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court, the defendant was cautioned by officers and quickly admitted that he had received a large collection of illicit images some time earlier, which he viewed.
He stated to police, “It was full of it – child pornography,” and claimed, “It’s not my thing.” The police seized his computer for forensic analysis, revealing images recorded between February 1 and June 5, 2013.
Prosecutor Carolyn Branford-Wood pointed out that Thomas’s explanation of receiving all the images in one compressed file was inaccurate.
Investigators found 58 images classified as Category A, 66 as Category B, and an astounding 40,568 as Category C, some depicting very young children aged three or four.
A 22-minute video showing child abuse was also recovered from his device.
The court heard that Thomas, who is an amateur weather forecaster, expressed remorse and self-disgust about his behavior and had previously been engaged in healthy romantic relationships.
In earlier proceedings, he pleaded guilty to 12 counts of possessing indecent images and three counts of producing such images.
Of these, one charge concerned the creation of 40,564 images.
He denied an additional charge of producing indecent images involving 118,721 pictures, which was accepted as unproven by prosecutors, resulting in a not guilty verdict.
Judge John Harrow addressed the courtroom, stating, “It appears you sat alone, seeking sexual satisfaction from viewing both still and moving images of children and adults engaged in sexual acts—some as young as three or four.
You likely didn’t consider how these images and videos were made—often involving children forced into performing in terrible circumstances.” As the judge sentenced Thomas, who was crying throughout and kept his eyes shut, he emphasized the reality of victims involved in such crimes.
“The victims are genuine,” the judge said.
“Offenders like you must accept the consequences when caught.”
