WHEN police seized a Leamington man’s computer they found appalling movie clips of children as young as one or two being sexually abused by adults.
But a judge has decided the public was ‘likely to be better protected’ by Daniel Taylor having to take part in a sexual offender treatment programme than by him being jailed.
Taylor of St Marys Crescent, had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images of children.
The 26 year-old was given a three-year community order and ordered to take part in a three-year sex offender’s treatment programme, and to do 60 hours of unpaid work.
Recorder Christopher Hotten QC also made Taylor subject to a rehabilitation activity for 30 days and ordered him to register as a sex offender for five years and to pay £600 costs.
Prosecutor James Dunstan said in August 2015 the police went to Taylor’s home after receiving intelligence someone at the address had been downloading indecent material of children.
The door was answered by his partner, but when the officers then spoke to Taylor he told them they would find images on his red laptop, and showed them where it was.
The laptop and a memory stick were seized, and Taylor, who had downloaded images using a file-sharing app, was arrested.
When the police examined the laptop and the memory stick they found a total of 245 indecent images of children, all but five of which were movies.
They were all accessible to the user, not having been deleted after being viewed, and had file names which were explicit about their content, said Mr Dunstan.
When interviewed Taylor admitted he had downloaded ‘a couple of hundred’ images of children over the previous six to nine months, which he said he had initially done out of curiosity, but admitted getting sexual satisfaction from them.
Andrew Tucker, defending, conceded the offences themselves were “horrible in their nature” but added Taylor, who had not distributed any of the material, had shown ‘complete and utter frankness,’ directing the police to the laptop and making ‘highly significant admissions.’
Sentencing Taylor, Recorder Hotten told him: “Everybody who downloads images such as these helps to create a market and provides a reason for children to be abused in the appalling way these children were.
“That is what you have done. Sitting alone in your room, it isolates you from what is going on all to children over the world in appalling circumstances.”
