August 2014
Chesterfield man escapes jail after police raid uncovers his haul of child abuse images
A Chesterfield man was caught with more than 1,500 indecent images or films of children after police found them on his computer following a drugs raid at his home.
Stephen Riley’s hard drive contained images or movies of young girls performing sex acts and one of a 12-year-old girl performing a sex act on a dog.
Nottingham Crown Court heard how Riley, of Kenyon Road, had a selection of extreme pornography which included all five categories.
Noel Philo, prosecuting, said once his hard drive had been analysed there were 1,333 images, nine of which were the most serious category five, and 277 movies, of which three were also category five.
Judge James Sampson told 47-year-old Riley: “Those who download and watch this kind of material from the internet are participating in the abuse of children.
“I do not regard any of the mitigation put forward as sufficient to keep you out of jail.
“However the probation service say they can work with you under a supervision order whereby you will be required to attend regular session with a sex offenders rehabilitation group. And it seems to me the public can be protected from you at this stage by the imposition of one.”
Mr Philo said police attended Riley’s home on a drugs warrant on June 18, 2013.
He said: “The incident arose because of the execution of a drugs warrant on the defendant’s premises.
“At that stage there were 34 cannabis plants found inside in various stages of growth.
“It was as that warrant was being executed that an (pornographic) image was seen on the computer screen.”
Mr Philo said officers seized the computer and it was analysed for pornographic images.
On it were found 1,012 images and 55 films of category 1; 49 images and 28 movies of category 2; 116 images and 19 movies of category 3; 147 images and 120 films of category 4 and nine images and three films of category 5.
Mr Philo explained to the court what some of the images and moving films contained.
Riley pleaded guilty to 17 counts of possessing pornographic images of children and one count of cultivating cannabis.
Judge Sampson handed him 36-months supervision during which he must attend a sex offenders programme.
Riley must also sign the sex offenders register indefinitely, was made the subject of a sex offenders prevention order, must have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16 and not to access the internet.
Adrian Reynolds, for Riley, said: “He knows there was a substantial amount of images of the worst category.
“If you send him to prison I don’t imagine there are many people out in the community that will argue with you.
“There are problems with this man’s perception of the enormity of what he has done but he has been open with his family about what has happened.
“His mother, uncle and son know what has happened.”
