PAUL ARMSON FROM HALESOWEN SENT BACK TO PRISON FOR REPEATED CHILD INDECENCY OFFENSES

In a recent development at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Paul Armson, a 50-year-old man from Upper Ashley Street in Halesowen, has been sentenced to serve a 12-month prison term after being found guilty of possessing indecent images of children for a second time. The court proceedings revealed that Armson had deliberately purchased a mobile phone with the specific intent of accessing and viewing banned images of minors, despite previous convictions and efforts to curb his behavior.

According to court records, Armson had previously served time in prison following his 2003 conviction when authorities uncovered 42 indecent images of children on his devices. At that time, he was ordered to participate in a community sex offender’s program, and he had also been required to register as a sex offender for a decade. Despite these measures, it appears that Armson’s compulsions persisted, leading him to reoffend.

During the recent hearing, the judge, Abigail Nixon, expressed her concerns about Armson’s deliberate actions. She stated, “I am quite sure you deliberately purchased a mobile phone to get access to the internet to find indecent images of children. You have made it clear you have an obsession but in the past you fully engaged with the group work programme. You did carry out work to try and prevent yourself from relapsing again but clearly that hasn’t worked.”

The court was informed that Armson had downloaded images onto his phone and even created a dedicated album for them. While the images were described as being of a lesser scale compared to those involved in previous cases, the judge emphasized that this relapse represented a significant setback in his ongoing rehabilitation efforts. As part of his sentence, Armson was banned from accessing the internet in the future and was placed on the sex offenders register for a period of ten years.

Historically, Armson’s criminal activities date back to December 2003, when he was involved in the distribution and possession of child abuse images. During that period, he was a member of the Boys Brigade in the Black Country, where he served as a leader for seven years. His arrest came after he tore up printed copies of indecent images and discarded them onto the street, where they were discovered by a woman walking with her young child. This discovery led to police intervention, and subsequent investigations confirmed his involvement in the possession of over a thousand indecent images of children, which he had printed and kept.

Following his arrest, Armson admitted to 42 charges related to making indecent images of children. The organization he worked with, the Boys Brigade, stated that he had resigned from his position prior to the arrest. The court’s decision underscores the seriousness of his repeated offenses and the ongoing concern regarding his potential risk to children and the community at large.