TORQUAY PAEDOPHILE UNDER FIRE: JAILED FOR CHILD ABUSE AND FIREARM OFFENCES
A Torquay man fired an air gun after losing his temper with a group of noisy men outside his house.Mike McCabe hit one man on the arm, a court heard.He was already under police investigation for downloading child sex abuse images from the internet and sharing them with other paedophiles on Kik Messenger.
The 39-year-old of Upton Road appeared at Exeter Crown Court to be sentenced for the separate crimes.He said he was very sorry and just wanted to get on with his life.
But the judge jailed him for two years and eight months.The judge said the most serious offence involved the discharge of the air rifle.
It occurred in June last year when McCabe yelled at a group of men near the coach station to turn the music down.
They heard shots and the defendant appeared armed with a BB gun.
He fired towards the group and hit a man on the elbow, leaving a small mark.
Police arrested him, and McCabe admitted he had drunk four pints and been smoking cannabis.
He claimed he only wanted to scare the group.McCabe also admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, as well as three offences of downloading indecent images, distributing images, and possessing prohibited images.In November 2023, police received intelligence from the National Crime Agency about suspicious activity related to McCabe's IP address.
They seized his phone and found nearly 500 indecent images of children, 184 extreme images, and five prohibited images.
Of these, 346 images were in the most serious category, with 73 distributed on Kik Messenger.
McCabe told police he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine at the time.Representing him, Martin Salloway said McCabe was "alone, drunk, and lonely" at the time and spent too long online.
He distributed the images among like-minded individuals and expressed remorse, wanting to move on with his life.
However, the Recorder Simon Levene noted that McCabe could have seriously injured a victim by firing the air rifle.
The court sentenced him to two years and eight months in prison and issued a sexual harm prevention order.
