WILLIAM BLAKEMORE SENTENCED IN PLYMOUTH FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES

In August 2012, William Blakemore, a 62-year-old married man with no prior criminal record, was sentenced to jail after police discovered thousands of extreme child abuse images and indecent movies of children at his home in Keyham.

During the police raid, Blakemore handed over a hard disk drive, telling officers, "What you want is all here." He subsequently pleaded guilty to 15 charges, including possession of indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornography, and distribution of child pornography.

Investigators found on the hard drive a total of 2,240 images of children, with 514 classified as level four and 63 as the most extreme level five images, collected over four years and last accessed just four days before the raid. The drive also contained 4,058 images of extreme adult pornography and 627 cartoon-style indecent images of children. Additionally, there were 6,473 movies depicting child abuse.

Further movies were located on a laptop and a desktop computer, but due to their large number, they were not specifically categorized. Prosecutor Julia Cox at Plymouth Crown Court explained that the children shown in the media ranged from infants just one month old to 16 years old, mostly pre-teens, many appearing to be extremely distressed.

Blakemore also engaged in chat-room activity, exchanging pictures and movies with other paedophiles, and admitted to police that his behavior had become an addiction.

Representing Blakemore, Jason Beal stated that his client had made full admissions and had voluntarily completed a course with the Lucy Faithful Foundation. Beal added, "He recognises the seriousness of what he has done and the problems that must exist within him." Beal also noted that Blakemore had suffered shame and embarrassment, lost his job, and relocated to Somerset. His wife of 40 years wanted to support him but found it difficult to accept his actions.

The judge, Recorder Paul Derbyshire, addressed Blakemore directly, saying, "I take no pleasure in sentencing a man of 62 of previous good character." Due to the sheer number of images, the young ages of the children involved, and the sharing of pornography with others, he sentenced Blakemore to 16 months in prison. The judge also said, "There is no direct evidence of physical abuse by you, but you were part of a group which encourages these movies and therefore play your part in the production of these images."

In addition to his prison sentence, Blakemore was subject to a 10-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and was ordered to register as a sex offender. Outside the court, Detective Constable Nick Biddle of the Devon and Cornwall Police Child Exploitation Unit commented, "Every image shows the abuse of a real child. The victims never get over it."