BOLTON MAN HANDED SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR DOWNLOADING OVER 100 INDECENT IMAGES OF CHILDREN
A man who downloaded more than 100 indecent images of children claimed he got no sexual pleasure from them.Darren Greenshields, aged 36, had the images on his computer between 2020 and 2023.
A high proportion of the images, 60, were categories A, which are of the most severe kind.
Bolton Crown Court heard how police raided his house on Stirling Road, Oldhams Estate, on March 7, 2023, after receiving intelligence about the address earlier that month.
Greenshields was brought before the court to be sentenced for his offending.
Judge Jon Close said: "They involve children as young as two years old." Lewis Hazeldine, prosecuting, said: "At police interview, the defendant admitted downloading and viewing the images but said that he was not sexually attracted and did not masturbate.
In total he had 116 images.
The children in the pictures ranged between two and 15 years old." Judge Close added: "It is impossible to say when they were possessed, as all of the images were inaccessible, only thumbnails could be seen.
It is said to have happened at sometime between 2020 and 2023, but there is no commission date on the files." Greenshields pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children of class A, B and C, at an earlier date.
He had no previous convictions, but did have a caution for indecent exposure to the annoyance of residents in 2015.
Defending, Naomi Duckworth, said: "He said to the probation officer he came across the pictures by accident, then accessed them a couple of times over a two week period during lockdown.
There has been a delay and no further offending since then." Judge Close challenged that assertion, saying: "Something brought police to his door in 2023, not in 2020.
He must have viewed over 100 abusive images of children, and must have done that more than once because of how they are populated at the top of the sidebar.
In 2023, something notified the police to take them to his door." Ms Duckworth added: "He expresses deep regret, shame and remorse for this offending.
There are several mitigating factors, including his previous good character, losing that good character will impact him given he is in employment.
Probation see his remorse as being genuine." She added that he had "adverse childhood experience", having lost his father as a teenager.
Concluding, Judge Close said: "You are 36 and have no previous convictions, other than a caution for exposure in 2015.
You make admissions but say there was no sexual gratification, those denials are not unusual.
Those who come before the courts having committed such offences carry with them considerable amounts of shame and embarrassment." He added: "The aggravating factors are the extremely young age of the children, some at two.
Each one of those images is a child that has endured unbearable horrors.
Each one is a child who has been victimised in the worst way.
Each one is a child who will be damaged beyond imagination for years to come.
You sought to revel in their suffering for your own sexual desires.
You created a market.
As they grow into teens and adulthood, most carry with them the knowledge that their suffering has been shared to people like you.
You ought to be utterly ashamed at that which you have done." However, taking into account his personal mitigation and lack of previous offending, Judge Close gave Greenshields a 10-month sentence, suspended for two years.
He ordered him to complete 40 rehabilitation activity requirement days, 200 hours of unpaid work, and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.
