NOTTINGHAM MAN CAUGHT WITH VILE CHILD ABUSE IMAGES AND HANDED SUSPENDED SENTENCE
A married father who worked in the University of Nottingham’s IT department was discovered to have hundreds of disturbing child abuse images on his devices.Nottingham Crown Court learned how “pornography addict” Shafiq Haque downloaded and viewed heinous movies involving children as young as five for his own sexual gratification.
The 38-year-old, residing in Forest Fields, was employed full-time but lost his job due to this offending.
His barrister stated at his sentencing hearing that Haque was now in fear of others discovering his conviction and emphasized his remorse and addiction.
Rawaid Javed, mitigating, said: “He has let himself down, let his wife down and has brought shame on his family.
He developed an addiction to pornography and came across this material which he should have deleted.” The lawyer added that Haque’s addiction overpowered his willpower and that this was his first conviction.
The police were alerted when an internet address linked to Haque was found downloading child abuse images.
Three devices, including a MacBook Pro used in his role at the university, were seized and analyzed, revealing 157 of the most serious Category A images, along with Category B and C images.
Police executed a search on July 12 of the previous year, and the devices contained material showing children aged five to twelve.
Haque pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of children and received an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months.
Judge James Sampson noted Haque’s lack of previous convictions and his remorse and ordered him to register as a sex offender for ten years and to comply with a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.
The judge remarked: “You can think yourself very lucky indeed on this occasion.
By viewing this abhorrent material you are participating in the abuse of children, that's what you were doing.
Having said that, it is clear to me you were in the grips of addiction and you are full of remorse and shame.
You are seeking help now and all of that is to your credit.
Your wife is standing by you.
This is a salutary lesson.”
