Telford pensioner avoids jail over child images

But he was spared immediate jail after telling a court he had been accessing pornography because of his depression.

Peter Evans, 67, had previously admitted five charges after police carried out a search warrant at his home.

Shrewsbury Crown Court was told Evans, of Elms Court, Admaston, Telford, had been suffering from depression after his marriage broke down and he had been accessing pornography of all kinds to alleviate his problems.

Prosecuting, Dafydd Roberts said: "Computer items were seized and examined and there were four in particular that brought the offences to light.

"One is a desktop computer with 1,154 indecent images, another desktop computer had 1,089 images, a laptop had four images then an external hard drive had 262 indecent images. A total of 320 were in category A, 242 in category B and 1,963 in category C.

Evans admitted three charges of making indecent images of children, one of possessing an extreme pornographic image and one charge of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

Sentencing Evans to 12 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, Judge Jim Tindal said: "It is not unusual to sentence men who have committed your offence.

"What is unusual is sentencing someone in their late 60s who has lived his entire live never being in trouble with the police and worked hard and I am sure contributed to the community.

"Every time someone like you clicks on an image like this of a child, you are fuelling the trade in the abuse of children all over the world."

Evans was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and will have to sign the sex offenders' register for five years. He was also ordered to pay costs of £150.

After the case, NSPCC spokesman Adam Burling said: "Each of these images is a crime scene, with a young person suffering appalling abuse."

He said the charity would be pushing for technology firms to do more to prevent the crime.