PERVERT WITH PROHIBITED IMAGES OF CHILDREN GIVEN COMMUNITY PENALTY
A PERVERT caught in possession of a stash of prohibited images of children is to be punished in the community.Police discovered hundreds of illegal, sexually-charged images involving children on a device belonging to Paul Missen.
The 45-year-old was hauled before Warrington Magistrates’ Court after being charged with and pleading guilty to possessing prohibited images of children.
Here, magistrates judged that he could be rehabilitated in the community, while they also imposed restrictions on his future usage of electronic devices.
Sarah McInerney, representing the prosecution, informed the court how, between April 2010 and March 2021, the defendant was in possession of 236 prohibited images of children.
This came following a forensic examination of his device by officers.
Prohibited images of children are described as being ‘pornographic’ and ‘grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character’.
An image must either concentrate on the genitalia of a child or show a sexual act which either actively involves a child or a child is shown to be present during the act.
Prohibited images cannot be photographs or photos which have been photoshopped.
They are therefore sketches, paintings, cartoons or any other unreal ‘depiction’ of a person.
Moreover, in order for such an image to be deemed as ‘pornographic’, it must ‘reasonably be assumed to have been produced solely or principally for the purpose of sexual arousal’.
Missen, of Grasmere Avenue in Orford, was sentenced to a two-year community order, including 40 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of £120, costs to the Crown Prosecution Service of £120 and a surcharge to fund victim services of £114.
In addition, magistrates approved an order for the forfeiture and destruction of the device he used to access the prohibited images of children.
The court also imposed a sexual harm prevention order on Missen to limit his ability to commit similar offences in the future through restricting his device usage for the next three years.
