November 2014
Scunthorpe man who had 600 indecent photographs of young children avoids prison
A MAN who had more than 600 indecent images of children avoided jail and was instead given the opportunity to get treatment to prevent him offending again.
Andrew McGovern, 52, of Theodore Road, Scunthorpe, admitted three charges of making indecent photographs of children.
Sentencing McGovern at Grimsby Crown Court, Judge Kate Buckingham said the first charge related to a memory stick containing 423 images – seven of which were category A, the worst kind. The second charge related to a laptop containing 71 images and the third concerned another laptop with 136 images – two of which were category A.
Judge Buckingham said the offences happened over a period between January 2012 and September 2013 and the age range of the children in the images was between four and 12.
McGovern initially denied the offences, but made full and frank admissions to police when reinterviewed and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
Mitigating, Craig Lowe said McGovern had not sought to minimise his involvement and had expressed remorse.
He asked Judge Buckingham to adopt the recommendations of a pre-sentence report prepared by the probation service.
He said: “The help he wants and needs to make sure he doesn’t reoffend is clearly contained within the sex offenders’ treatment programme.”
McGovern was given a 36-month community order with a supervision requirement and a requirement to complete the sex offenders’ treatment programme.
He was also made the subject of a five-year sexual offences prevention order and will be on the sex offenders’ register for five years.
