A CARLISLE man has been sentenced for downloading child abuse images which were found on his laptop and mobile phone.
The city’s crown court heard today (TUES) how police executed a warrant at the Brampton Road home of Alexander Ross Crawford in March amid suspicions indecent photographs of youngsters had been accessed at that address.
Two devices were seized and examined. It emerged Crawford, 29, had downloaded illegal images while part of a file-sharing network.
There were 266 classed as category A – the most serious kind – along with 215 category B and 282 category C. Four extreme pornographic images were also recovered, plus 350 prohibited images of children.
“The children are noted in an officer’s statement to be quite young – very young, in fact,” prosecutor Jack Troup told the court. “There is at least one moving image.”
Crawford, a man of previous good character, made no comment in an initial interview, but made “full and frank admissions” when quizzed for a second time.
He admitted three offences of making indecent photographs of a child; possessing a prohibited child image; and possessing an extreme pornographic image.
Judge Julie Clemitson considered background reports, describing Crawford as a “vulnerable” individual who needed “support and assistance”, and concluding there was a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.
Crawford was handed a three-year community order which includes attendance on a sex offender treatment course. He must abide by the strict terms of a sexual harm prevention order, and sign the sex offenders’ register.
Judge Clemitson told him: “Every time someone like you accesses one of these images and looks at it, you are effectively harming that child all over again.”
