August 2013
Pervert warned he faces prison for child abuse images
A man who downloaded child abuse images from the internet just days after being given a chance by a judge for similar offences has been warned he could face jail.
Thomas Winters was originally given a three year community order at Lincoln Crown Court in July last year following a police raid on his home in the village of Upton near Gainsborough in January 2010.
Winters’ computer was seized by officers and was found to contain over 1,300 indecent images of children that had been downloaded from the internet.
As part of his sentence for that offence, Winters was ordered not to possess any software which allowed him to delete the search history of his computer.
But just 23 days after he was sentenced police again visited his home.
They discovered that Winters was using a computer which allowed him to delete the history.
The computer was taken away and examined by police officers and further indecent images of children were discovered.
Winters, 64, of Main Street, Upton, admitted possessing 124 indecent images of children on 22 August 2012.
He also admitted breaching a sexual offences prevention order by using a computer which had the capacity to delete the history.
After entering his guilty pleas to the offences, Winters told the judge at Lincoln Crown Court: “It will never happen again.”
Judge Michael Heath adjourned sentencing Winters for further information to be obtained on the offences he was originally sentenced for back in July last year.
But he also warned Winters that just because he was being released on bail, it did not mean he wouldn’t get a custodial sentence.
“I’m going to adjourn the sentence so that I can have all the relevant information before me,” he said.
“The fact that I grant you bail today does not mean that I won’t send you to prison when I come to sentence you.”
Winters was granted bail to appear back at Lincoln Crown Court for sentencing next month, at a date still to be confirmed.
