'You gratified yourself with images of sexually abused children' Lancashire man jailed | Preston Crown Court

A reclusive paedophile caught with hundreds of child porn images and films on his phone and laptop has been jailed by a judge in Preston.

The city’s Crown Court heard Jamie Lonsdale had been viewing “horrible” videos featuring the rape of children as young as one or two - and others aged six to nine - in the caravan where he lived alone in the Rossendale Valley. Police found a staggering 1,242 photographs and movies had been stored on his devices over an eight-year period.

The 34-year-old former warehouse worker pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing extreme pornographic material – including adults having sex with animals - and three counts of having indecent images of children. He was sent to prison for 12 months and was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order restricting his access to the internet for the next 10 years.

Barrister Daniel Dewhurst, prosecuting, told the court that in June 2024 police received information that an indecent image had been uploaded to the internet in 2017 and had later been shared in 2023.

The National Crime Agency investigated and found the IP address of the device which uploaded it was linked to a property in Rossendale.

In July 2024 they searched Londsdale’s home in Newchurch near Rawtenstall and took away a Samsung mobile phone and an Asus laptop on which they found 330 Category A images of children, 117 Category B and 241 Category C, along with 554 extreme pornographic images and films, many involving children.

Amongst them was a 59-minute video of women sexually abusing girls aged between10 and 14. Other material included the rape of a girl aged between one and two and another containing footage of rapes committed on girls aged from six to nine. One of the youngsters had been wearing a hood covering her eyes and it was clear she was in pain.

Lonsdale, of Staghills Road, Rossendale, was arrested and gave “no comment” answers in two interviews with officers – in July 2024 and May 2025. But he subsequently admitted to a probation officer that he was sexually aroused by the material but denied he was sexually attracted to children.

Defence lawyer Danyal Ahmed said his client had no previous convictions and had not reoffended in the two years since he had been arrested. Lonsdale had now realised the seriousness of his actions.

Mr Ahmed said Lonsdale had a number of health issues and added: “He clearly does need help.” He urged Judge Graham Knowles KC to pass a suspended sentence which would give him more support than an immediate prison term.

But Judge Knowles told Lonsdale: “Over a period of eight years you gratified yourself at the expense of sexually abused children. Police came and took a phone and laptop and they found, going back as far as eight years, a total of more than 1,200 illegal films and stills.

“I won’t give the name of the website in open court, but it rejoices in the vulnerability of children who are to be found on it.

“It is necessary to spell out some of what you had: A film of the rape of a girl one or two years old, a film of the rape of a girl aged six, seven, eight or nine, a film of the rape of another girl.

“You admitted to the probation officer that you were sexually aroused by this material. You (committed a sex act) to it and were sexually gratified by this material.

“You, however, denied you were sexually attracted by children. What you mean by that is not clear. It may be you were hoping to hang on to some level of self-respect for yourself.

“The children in these films are exploited and abused for your sexual gratification. It is horrible to contemplate that in the time since these various images were made what will or will not have happened to those children.

“They have had to live their lives (knowing) their abuse is going around the world and men like you are downloading it and (committing a sex act to it) as if it just doesn’t matter.”

Judge Knowles said Lonsdale had admitted he struggled to make friends, he had not worked for some time and he had no hobbies of any kind. All his social life was spent online.

He was said to be a high risk of reoffending (online), although a low risk of reoffending in direct contact with children. “A curfew wouldn’t help because you spend all your time in the caravan where you are living.”

The judge said the case was aggravated by the young age of the children in the videos and photographs, some had clearly been in pain. The amount of material found on his devices had also to be taken into account.

The only mitigating factors were he had no previous convictions and he “lived an isolated and rather unhappy and unsatisfactory life”.

Judge Knowles said the offences were so serious that only an immediate jail term was possible.

He said the lead offence was the possession of 330 Category A images, the most serious type of child pornography. He sentenced him to 12 months on that count, eight months for the Category B images and six months for the Category C. He added six months for possession of extreme pornographic content.

All sentences will run concurrently, making a total of 12 months in jail.