Preston man had indecent cartoons of children, court told

A man who began viewing indecent images of children as a teenage boy was found out when police received intelligence and searched his home.
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Aiden Doughty, 21, of Glen Park Drive, Hesketh Bank, Preston, had downloaded and stashed indecent images of children across two laptops, five phones and an i-Pod over a period between 2014 and 2018, Preston Crown Court was told.

Prosecuting, Julian Taylor said: " There was a search warrant of the defendant's home address on December 17, 2018.

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"The defendant was home alone. He allowed police to enter the house and search it, and a number of devices were found in his bedroom.

Crown CourtCrown Court
Crown Court

"All these devices were examined and at that stage the content of the first matter was found.

"Some are cartoons, some show children as young as four to six years of age."

At first police couldn't gain access to the i-Pod but it was subsequently examined and further images were found, meaning new charges were brought.

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Doughty was interviewed extensively and made a prepared statement on which he said somebody else must have accessed his devices.

But he later pleaded guilty to possessing two category A images - the most serious in law - with 18 at category B, possessing a prohibited image of a child, and two of possessing category C images totalling 430.

The court heard his offending began when he was a teenager and became a habit for him until he was about 18.

Judge Simon Medland QC forfeited all of his devices and imposed a five year sexual harm prevention order

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He said: "When you were a teenager about 14 or 15 you started to start looking at pornographic images, both photographs and cartoons, which you should have known were transgressive and unlawful.

"You know that children are just that. They are not sexual objects whether that's photographic or cartoon form.

"You have no previous convictions and you have in part impressed the author of your pre sentence report with your genuine desire to steer away from this."

He imposed a three year community order with a rehabilitation activity and ordered him to take part in a sex offender's programme and sign the Sex Offender's Register for five years.

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