A man who downloaded hundreds of indecent images of children has been spared jail by a judge who stressed that the community punishment instead being handed down was ‘not a soft option’.
Forty-year-old Steven Hannay was visited at his former home in Cockermouth by police acting on intelligence on February 17 last year.
Devices were seized and analysis showed Hannay had downloaded scores of images in the most serious class of category A which showed the sexual abuse of children. In addition, there was evidence of 46 category images in his possession and more than 200 in category C.
Hannay was also said to have been involved in a brief struggle with police but had been quickly subdued, Carlisle Crown Court heard today.
He admitted charges relating to making of the indecent images, having a prohibited image of a child and resisting a police constable.
Hannay was said to have been brutally frank when discussing his offending with a probation officer who interviewed him ahead of his sentencing hearing.
And Judge Andrew Jefferies KC told Hannay that his job was not just to punish the defendant for his offending but also decide how best to protect the public going forward.
He concluded that an intense three-year community order was the most appropriate sentence as there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.
Hannay, of Devonshire Street, Workington, must complete an accredited sex offender treatment course and supplementary work with the probation service. “It is not a soft sentence,” the judge said.
Hannay was also given an abstinence monitoring requirement which involves wearing a tag detecting any consumption of alcohol. And in addition he must sign the sex offenders’ register, and comply with the strict terms of a prevention order, both for five years.
