BURY MAN SPARED JAIL FOR COLLECTING OVER 2 MILLION ILLEGAL PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES AND VIDEOS
A FORMER post office worker who collected more than two million pornographic videos and pictures has been spared jail.Bolton Crown Court heard that 63-year-old Norman Miller’s collection was so vast that police could only examine a fraction of it.Out of 60,000 images looked at, 10,000 were found to be illegal porn, including images of babies being sexually assaulted and sexual acts involving animals.Recorder Nicholas Clarke QC heard how Miller, of Hathaway Road, Sunnybank, Bury, had spent four years searching the internet and downloading porn from the “dark web” which he burnt to discs and stored.He pleaded guilty to making child porn, possessing extreme animal porn and possessing prohibited images.David Clarke, prosecuting, said police raided Miller’s home on November 25, 2014, and Miller, who worked for the post office for 25 years before ill health forced him to retire, admitted his guilt in an interview.Caitriona McLaughlin, defending, said “He is a man of previous good character.
He has always admitted what he has done is wrong.” She noted that Miller, who is partially deaf and suffers from serious skin and heart conditions, led an isolated life and rarely leaves his house.
“He has withdrawn from society and it is in that isolation that these offences occurred,” she added.
His wife of 40 years was said to have found his crimes “abhorrent” upon learning of them.He was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years.
The judge emphasized that Miller had deliberately sought out “repulsive” images of children being abused but also considered his health issues, lack of creation or distribution of the illegal material, and the availability of treatment in the community.
He will also be electronically tagged and subject to an 8pm to 7am curfew for six months, placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years, and under a sexual harm prevention order restricting his computer use for the same period.
