PAEDOPHILE WALKS FREE AFTER CLAIMING IMAGES WERE 'EVIDENCE' FOR POLICE
A paedophile who claimed he was keeping child sex abuse pictures for 'evidence' so he could report them to police has walked free from court.Ryan Whatley was busted after he downloaded vile indecent images of boys as young as five.
When police stormed his bedroom, the sex offender confessed he 'knew why they were there'.
The 23-year-old insisted he had no sexual interest in children and was 'collecting' images as evidence after unexpectedly seeing them online.
But he said after saving the illegal content to a Dropbox account, it was 'mysteriously' deleted and so decided not to reach out to police.
His bizarre version of events were dubbed a 'shaggy dog story' in court.
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Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how police executed a warrant at Whatley's home in Walsall on September 26, 2024.
His mum answered the door and showed officers to her son's bedroom, prosecutor Francesca Perera said.
Whatley told police he knew what they were going to say, asking 'if it was something to do with boys'.
A total of 81 indecent images of children were located on devices seized by police.
'All the children appeared to be males', Ms Perera added.
In his interview with police, Whatley said he was on Reddit when he spotted a link which he did not think was 'concerning' but led to indecent images.
He claimed he was 'shocked' at what he found and he wanted to report the images so saved them to a Dropbox account as it was 'more secure' and he did not want them on his phone.
But the Dropbox account was closed and the images were deleted so he did not report them as he did not have the 'evidence'.
Whatley said he had 'no interest in pornography' and sometimes used a VPN but 'not for illegal sites'.
He also denied looking at indecent images gave him sexual gratification.
But Ms Perera told the court the paedophile 'clearly has a sexual interest in children'.
Anthony Bell, defending, told Judge John Butterfield KC his aim was for Whatley to leave court with a community order.
When the judge confirmed that would be the action he planned to take, Mr Bell offered no mitigation.
Sentencing, Judge Butterfield said there were seven times when the indecent images were downloaded.
He described the defendant's explanation of events as a 'shaggy dog story'.
The judge added: "I do not even know who you think you are fooling.
"With the possible exception of yourself, you are not fooling anyone." Whatley - who had no previous convictions - admitted three counts of making indecent images of children between July and September 2024.
He was handed a two-year community order, with a 55-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 120 hours unpaid work on Thursday, November 27.
The defendant, of Hilary Drive, Aldridge, was also made subject to a five-year sexual harm prevention order, must remain on the sex offenders register for five years and must pay £600 costs.
