Man sentenced for having indecent images - five years after police investigation started
A man has been sentenced for possessing prohibited images of children and extreme images of animals – five years after police started their investigation.
Adam Watts, 21, was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court this week, having admitted the offences in 2020.
Watts, of Trevarthian Road, St Austell, Cornwall, but formerly of Smallbrook Road, Whitchurch, pleaded guilty to four offences – two counts of possessing a prohibited image of a child, and two counts of possessing extreme pornographic images involving animals.
Syed Ahmed, prosecuting, said that police had began investigating in March 2019 when they were alerted to a user profile on social media, which had been part of a group sharing the images.
In August 2020 a search of Watts' property was carried out and police found two devices containing images and videos – an iPad and a mobile telephone.
Across both devices officers found around 600 prohibited images, as well as a number of extreme images and videos involving animals.
The court was told that the images included a picture of a child being sexually abused.
