Paedophile father hid hundreds of indecent images on PC under the stairs in Market Drayton family home
A father who hid hundreds of indecent images of children on a computer under the stairs of his family home has narrowly avoided going back to prison.
Christopher Hunter served an eight-month prison sentence in 2006 for possessing images of children being sexually abused but that did not stop him, 17 months later, downloading hundreds of such images onto a computer kept under the stairs of the home he shared with his children and then wife.
Hunter, now 47, came to the attention of police again in 2023 when they learned internet activity at his then home in Market Drayton was linked to the distribution of child sex abuse material.
Police officers visited on September 12 of that year, prosecutor Laura Coton told Shrewsbury Crown Court this week.
"His wife and his children were present. He was arrested for the offence of making indecent images and was asked to provide his telephone.
"He responded 'it's not on the phone, it's on the PC'."
Hunter's then wife, now ex-wife, showed the officers a PC that was kept in a cupboard under the stairs.
It was seized and found to have 75 indecent images of children of category A, the most serious in the eyes of the law depicting the worst forms of abuse; plus 144 category B images and 106 of category C.
BitTorrent software had been installed on the machine to facilitate the transfer of files, the court heard, while programmes for removing and 'shredding' files were also found.
