JOHN LAMB

April 2010 Retired Wirral policeman admits downloading indecent images of children A FORMER police officer caught with more than 3,500 child porn images of children has narrowly avoided an immediate jail sentence.

John Lamb was told by a judge that but for his ill health he would have gone straight to prison.

Lamb, 54, who walks with the aid of two sticks, has diabetes, final stage renal failure and attends hospital three times a week for dialysis.

At Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge David Harris, QC, told him: “I would have sent you to prison today if it was not for your health problems.” Liverpool Crown Court heard that Lamb was caught after officers in the Met launched an inquiry into file-sharing on the internet.

They became suspicious when some of the file names suggested people were involved with child porn.

Further investigations revealed Lamb’s computer details, sparking officers to search his home in Sutherland Drive home, Eastham, on April 1, last year.

Geoffrey Fryar, prosecuting, told when his computer was analysed a total of 3,564 indecent photographs of children were discovered.

While the vast majority of the images were at the lowest category, 113 of the pictures were ranked as the second most serious level.

When interviewed Lamb, who is believed to have been in the Merseyside force for around 30 years before retiring because of his ill-health, fully admitted his crimes.

But he told police he did not know why he had looked at the images as his poor health meant he no longer functioned sexually.

Lamb, who has no previous convictions and was supported by his wife, insisted he was not aroused by the images.

This was rejected by Judge David Harris, QC, who said he must have taken some satisfaction from the images.

He told Lamb, who pleaded guilty to 14 charges of making indecent images: “I would have sent you to prison today if it was not for your health problems.” He suspended a 32-week prison sentence for two years and ordered Lamb to attend the Northumbria Sex Offenders’ Programme.

The judge also imposed an indefinite Sexual Offenders Prevention Order restricting Lamb’s computer use.

He will be on the Sexual Offenders Register for 10 years.

John Weate, defending, said Lamb had fully cooperated with the police investigation and pleaded guilty.

“Not only himself, but also for his loving family who support him, have had the stress of a year’s delay since his arrest,” he added.