STEPHEN HARRIS OF BURY ST EDMUNDS JAILED AGAIN FOR MASSIVE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES
In July 2022, Stephen Harris, a resident of Prince of Wales Close in Bury St Edmunds, found himself back in court facing serious allegations related to child exploitation images.Harris, who had previously served time for possessing over 15,000 indecent photographs of children, was once again brought before the judiciary after authorities uncovered an alarming collection of over 150,000 indecent images on his electronic devices.
Harris's prior conviction in 2008 at Ipswich Crown Court resulted in a 12-month prison sentence and a court order requiring him to register as a sex offender.
Additionally, he was subjected to a sexual offences prevention order aimed at restricting his access to certain online activities.
Despite these measures, Harris was found to have violated the terms of this order, which led to his reappearance in court.
Prosecutor Sheilagh Davies detailed the findings from the analysis of Harris’s devices.
The investigation revealed a disturbing array of images, including 1,279 indecent photographs of children and two movies classified as Level A, indicating the most severe category of child exploitation material.
Further examination uncovered 1,558 images in Category B and an astonishing 155,000 images in Category C, the lowest level but still indicative of illegal content.
Harris admitted to police that viewing such images had become an obsession, highlighting the severity of his ongoing criminal behavior.
His breach of the sexual offences prevention order was linked to his access to file-sharing and peer-to-peer software, which he used to obtain and view illicit material.
As a result of these findings and his admissions, Harris was sentenced to an additional 18 months in prison.
The court also imposed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and mandated that he sign the sex offenders’ register for the same duration, reinforcing the serious consequences of his actions and the ongoing risk he poses to the community.
