A Whitehaven man who shared child sexual abuse images in WhatsApp chat has been warned by a judge he could be jailed.
Toqeer Khan, 29, of Miterdale Close, pleaded guilty to a total of seven offences when he appeared in the dock at Carlisle Crown Court.
Three charges involve the distribution of indecent photographs of children, including one image of category A — the most serious class — on April 19 2020.
Khan admitted three charges of making an indecent photograph of a child, including 12 category A images, between August 14 2020, and May 11 2022.
He further admitted possessing nine extreme pornographic images between August 2020 and May of last year.
Judge Nicholas Barker observed that the crimes were serious matters with the distribution offences having been committed during WhatsApp chat.
Khan’s lawyer, Jamie Adams, told the court there was no lurid sexual interest on the defendant’s part. Instead the illegal chat was puerile and with silly, like-minded friends.
Judge Barker asked for the preparation of a probation service pre-sentence report and adjourned the case until December 8. Khan is due to receive his punishment on that date, and has been granted bail in the meantime.
The judge stressed that no decision about then sentence had yet been taken but warned Khan: “There is a significant risk here this may lead to an immediate custodial sentence. That means you must put in place all matters necessary for that by December 8.”
