PREDATOR, 62, CAUGHT WITH SICKENING CHILD RAPE VIDEOS CLAIMS HE WAS 'CURIOUS'
A 62-year-old paedophile has been in court for the first time in his life - after he was caught with vile child abuse images and videos.‘Isolated’ Ian Thorley downloaded clips and pictures of youngsters - including babies - because he was ‘curious’.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard police seized four memory sticks and a computer tower from the Longton man’s address in Winsford Avenue.
They discovered 194 category A and B images of children being sexually abused, as well as 24 videos of the disgusting material.
Jennifer Devans-Tamakloe, prosecuting, said Thorley told officers he had ‘no sexual gratification from children’.
He pleaded guilty to two offences of making indecent images of children between December 2023 to January 2024.
Stuart Muldoon, mitigating, said: “His offending was over a relatively short amount of time.
He lives an isolated life, his typical week is as follows; he gets up at 9am, speaks to his aunt at 10am for around 30 to 40 minutes, visits his cousins for an hour, and on the weekend he goes shopping and visits his cousins.
He has significant issues with his mental health and is taking prescribed medications which assist him.
He has taken these proceedings to heart.
He is a very emotional man, he is embarrassed and ashamed of what he did.” Judge Richard McConaghy sentenced Thorley to a two-year community order including 40 rehabilitation activity days, a 12-month mental health treatment requirement, and he must pay a £2,000 fine, £1,000 prosecution costs.
He is also subject to a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order with notification requirements.
The Judge told him: “Between December 2023 to January 2024 you downloaded over 200 indecent images of children.
Some were stored on your computer and some were stored on two different memory sticks.
You say you obtained these images by accident and you only looked out of curiosity.
Curiosity is a strange word to describe a sexual interest in children.
These images included the rape of babies and signs of obvious distress to those children who were being sexually abused.
Your basis to police for having downloaded these images by accident and you were viewing them with no sexual motive, that is, frankly, a ridiculous notion which you need to stop hiding behind.
"Those children were being sexually abused in the most appalling ways and they are real children.
Perpetrators make these images because people out there like you will look at them.
Don't think your behaviour hasn’t contributed to the systematic abuse of children."
