February 2015
Paedophile admits downloading indecent images of children aged as young as five
PERVERT David Wardle downloaded more than a thousand indecent images of children after losing his job.
The 63-year-old grandfather was arrested after police officers raided his Staffordshire home.
Officers seized his computer tower and external hard drive.
The equipment was found to contain hundreds of indecent images of children and images of extreme pornography.
There were also movies including two cartoons depicting sexual activity between adults and children.
Now Wardle has been handed a three-year community order as a judge believes there is a ‘real prospect’ of him being rehabilitated.
Prosecutor Fiona Cortese told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court that police officers searched Wardle’s home in Jervis Street, Stone, at 8am on June 14, 2013.
They seized the equipment and arrested the defendant. He admitted he downloaded indecent images in the 12 months after he lost his job. He said he liked watching it and was interested in youngsters aged five to 12.
Wardle accepted all the indecent images were downloaded by him but added he had not shared them with others.
He pleaded guilty to six charges of making indecent photographs of children, two charges of possessing extreme pornographic images and possessing prohibited images of children.
Nayan Patel, mitigating, said the defendant, who has no previous convictions, made full and frank admissions before the police viewed the images on his computer.
Judge David Fletcher said Wardle would have gone to jail if he had been convicted after a trial. But because of his candidness and openness he handed the defendant a three-year community order with supervision and a requirement to complete a sex offender programme.
He was also made the subject of a five year Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) and will be on the sex offenders’ register for five years.
Judge Fletcher said: “These were disgusting images you were looking at. These are children you did not know. You do not even know where they are but they are children, they are real people and they are being criminally exploited
“If people like you did not download the images they would have no value and that sort of behaviour would not happen.”
The judge added: “You went down a road which you became embroiled in and it resulted in the police knocking on your door.
“You admitted your criminality before anyone had the opportunity to look at your computer.
“I believe there is a real prospect of you being rehabilitated.”
