NOTTINGHAM MAN CAUGHT WITH INDECENT IMAGES CLAIMS IT WAS ACCIDENTAL
A judge challenged a man who claimed that he had no sexual interest in children - despite getting caught with indecent images.Leslie Hawley, 58, was put on probation for two years to tackle his offending.
His name was added to the sex offenders register for five years.
Nottingham Crown Court heard that he claimed to have "accidentally" downloaded illegal images while looking for adult pornography on the internet.
Matthew Hayes, mitigating, said: "Curiosity got the better of him and he accepts that he viewed illegal images." "He has had a long-standing addiction to adult pornography for at least 25 years." Hawley accepted he was at risk of going to jail - but Mr Hayes suggested a specialist course would turn him away from offending.
Judge Steven Coupland told Hawley: "You state you had no sexual interest in children and that the images were downloaded by accident.
I don't accept that.
From the search terms you were using, those were the images you were looking for." And the judge said it was important to remember the damage caused by indecent images of children.
"People tend to forget that this is a real child being abused," the judge told Hawley of Glebe Street, Kirkby-in-Ashfield.
Hawley admitted having prohibited images of a child; extreme pornography; downloading indecent images.
Police officers received information about his internet use and arrested Hawley on April 11.
He said if there was any unlawful image it would have been accidentally downloaded along with adult pornography," said Miss Ben-Aribia.
But one of his searches was for pictures of teenage girls, she said.
Officers found 31 images of the worst kind.
These involved children thought to be aged between six and eight.
There were 288 images in Category C, a less serious list, and these included children around ten and 12.
Hawley had never been in trouble before.
A sexual harm prevention order was imposed to control his internet use and allow police officers to check it.
