June 2014
Pervert spared prison for possession of child abuse images
A pervert who had hundreds of indecent images of children on his computer has been spared jail.
Robert Sparrow, 24, pleading guilty to 15 counts of making and possessing indecent images of youngsters aged 10 or 11 years old.
He denied a further two charges of possession of prohibited images of children which were ordered to lie on the file.
Preston Crown Court heard Sparrow, of Thorpe Avenue, Morecambe, stored the images on a laptop, computer tower and hard drive at his home.
When officers executed a warrant at the property on September 12 they seized the computer equipment.
Examinations revealed there were 24 photos and 158 videos ranging from SAP levels one to four.
Sparrow was described as a loner who spends much of his time alone on his computer.
Following his arrest Sparrow confessed he had been viewing the images on a regular basis.
Judge Andrew Woolman, sentencing, said: “There is no evidence of any file sharing or any evidence you ever attempted to contact any child.
“You clearly have some problems in understanding what you have done wrong.
“Although you haven’t done anything directly to these children, somewhere in a country in the world there are children who are suffering abuse as a result of people like you being prepared to watch these videos.
“If there wasn’t there would not be any market for them.
“Anybody who watches indecent images and videos is contributing to the abuse at an indirect level.”
He handed Sparrow a two year community order and ruled he must attend an internet sex offenders program.
