2009: MAN JAILED OVER CHILD PORN HAUL
A man responsible for the largest collection of child pornography ever confiscated by Warwickshire police, who also distributed some of the illegal material, has received an 18-month prison sentence.Purser, 29, residing on St Jude’s Avenue in Studley, admitted to 20 counts of producing indecent images of children spanning from January 2004 to March of the previous year.
He also pleaded guilty to two charges related to sharing videos depicting child abuse.
In addition, he confessed to possessing a staggering 220,581 indecent photographs and 1,174 videos of children on his computer hard drives, which covered a wide range of severity levels.
During sentencing, Judge Marten Coates ordered Purser to register as a sex offender for seven years and imposed a sexual offences prevention order.
This order bans him from engaging in certain activities, such as maintaining internet accounts or working with minors.
According to prosecutor Kristina Montgomery, Warwickshire police located the illicit collection following international cooperation involving various law enforcement agencies, including officials from Canada.
The investigation was initiated based on activity within a chat platform called Kids the Light of Our Lives, which aimed to facilitate discussions about child abuse and trafficking in illegal images.
Purser first accessed the site in September 2006, and between then and May 2007, he uploaded 88 videos of children for others to view.
Seven of these videos, classified as levels one and two in severity, were downloaded by other members.
Police raided Purser’s home in May 2007, discovering extensive computer equipment spread across two rooms—one his primary space and the other a spare room in his family’s house.
Hard drives recovered from these devices contained the 220,581 still images, including over 218,000 level one images, 588 level two, 774 level three, 893 level four, and 88 level five.
The videos included 280 at level four and 24 at level five.
While most downloads involved lower-level material, some videos he uploaded depicted bondage or even bestiality.
During police interviews, Purser did not respond to questions.
A community psychiatric nurse assessed him but found no signs of mental illness.
The judge emphasized that a prison sentence was necessary.
Defense counsel Sally Hancox expressed hope for an alternative, arguing that most images were of lower severity and that Purser had been undergoing therapy supported by his family since his arrest.
She added that, following his guilty plea, the family had been forced to leave their home after violent threats, including a Stanley knife incident, and spent Christmas elsewhere.
Judge Coates told Purser that sentencing guidelines suggest one to three years in custody.
However, due to his early guilty plea, he received a reduction of one-third.
The judge condemned societal reactions to offenders like Purser, calling such sentiment "thoroughly abhorrent" and reaffirming that justice must be served within the courtroom.
