Published date: 08 July 2016 |
Published by: Staff reporterRead more articles by Staff reporterEmail reporter
POLICE who executed a search warrant at an address in Flint found thousands of indecent images of children.
Mold Crown Court was told that officers were acting on intelligence when they executed the warrant at Marian, Flint, the then home of restaurant manager Alan Peter Evans.
Evans, 39, who has now moved to an address in Terrig Street, Shotton, was yesterday ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years.
A 10-year sexual harm prevention order was made.
An eight-month prison sentence was suspended for two years and he was placed on rehabilitation so he could follow an internet sex offender treatment programme run by the probation service.
Judge Rhys Rowlands told Evans he was a man of no previous convictions and until the police visited his home he was in a relationship, had two young children, and he had held down a good job for many years.
“All that has either been lost or put at risk as a result of your behaviour, seeking out and storing indecent images of young children, together with extreme images,” the judge said.
He had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity in the magistrates’ court and it would appear from the pre-sentence report he had an insight into what he had done and the effect of his behaviour on others.
“You are motivated to try and do something about it,” he said.
A significant number of images had been found on a computer, an iPhone and on a storage card.
There were so many that a decision had been taken in view of the time and cost involved not to continue with the forensic analyses.
But his case was aggravated by the nature of some of the images and the ages of the children involved.
It was also a feature that he had stored images partly in a hidden folder, no doubt so he could return to them time and time again.
His behaviour spanned several months between July last year and April this year.
The judge said that he took into account references which showed the other side of him and he had read that he was awaiting an assessment from the local mental health team for ADHD and possible depression.
He was a low risk of reoffending, he had lost his job and was in considerable debt.
There were a large number of images which meant it had to be custody, but the judge had decided it could be suspended.
Evans admitted a total of 14 offences and prosecuting barrister Ffion Tomos said police found 141 category A images, the most serious kind, together with 100 at category B and 278 at category C.
There were two category A videos, two at category B and three at category C.
Also recovered were 289 extreme videos and one image depicting sex between adults and animals.
The ages of the children involved were between six months and 16 years.
Defending barrister Matthew Dunford said it was sad to see someone who had never been in trouble before in the crown court on such charges.
He did not dispute the prosecution case, but could not understand the suggestion that there were 10,000 images.
The defendant had been in a relationship for eight years, they had two children, but whether that relationship would survive was not known.
His partner and his and her families were in court to support him.
Since the offences came to light he had been required to live away from the family home.
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