GUNNISLAKE MAN SENTENCED FOR POSSESSING CHILD ABUSE IMAGES AND PAEDOPHILE MANUAL
JOSEPH SULLIVAN, 41, of Alexandra Terrace, Drakewalls pleaded guilty at Truro Crown Court to making and possessing indecent images of children including 186 still images and 119 moving Category A images – the most serious category and making 1020 category C images, to possessing a 170-page paedophile manual on ‘How to Practice Child Love’ which contained advice or guidance about abusing children sexually at Gunnislake between August 2023 and October 2024.He will be sentenced on 30 October and is required to register with the police until the case is dealt with.
Update 30-10-2025 Sentencing, Judge Carr said he had never in all his 40 years of practice come across someone in possession of a paedophile manual.
He said Sullivan, who was previously cautioned in 2023 after being caught with indecent images of children, has a “clear and entrenched sexual interest in children, that does not bode well” for his rehabilitation.
The judge told Sullivan: “In 2023 you were caught in possession of indecent images of children.
Because of the low number you were given a caution.
If anything should have been a wake up call that was it." He added: “You went completely the other way.” Of the paedophile manual, the judge said: “In the 40 years I've sat it is the first time I have seen one held by someone.
“It is 170 pages long and tells you how to go about and get away with abuse of children.
It didn’t just appear in your folder.
It was something you deliberately downloaded.” “Over a period of time you have downloaded a very high number of images, many of them category A involving young children.” He went on to tell the court rehabilitation “is not at present a realistic possibility” and “only a custodial sentence is appropriate”.
Sullivan was jailed for a total of 15 months and handed a sexual harm prevention order of 10 years.
He will be on the sexual offences register for the next 10 years.
