December 2013
Already convicted paedophile had 4,000 indecent child images
A convicted sex offender found with more than 4,000 indecent images of children has been jailed for two-and-a-half years and placed on an extended licence when released for the protection of the public.
Graham Garnett, 59, was already on the sex offenders’ register for downloading indecent images.
Norwich Crown Court heard that when police made a routine check they found he had downloaded indecent images on his laptop and various other computer equipment including a memory stick.
Chris Youell, prosecuting, said there was a total of 3,908 images and 452 moving images.
A large number of the images were in the most serious category.
The court heard that Garnett had previous convictions for sex offences including possession of indecent images in 2005.
Garnett, of Matlock Road, Norwich, admitted making and possessing indecent images and breaching conditions of the sex offenders’ register.
Jailing him for two-and-a-half years and ordering him to be placed on an extended three-and-a-half-year licence, Recorder Christopher Morgan said a pre-sentence report showed that Garnett was of “high risk” of reoffending.
He said: “You pose a significant risk of serious harm to children.”
Recorder Morgan placed him on the sex offenders’ register for life and banned him from working with children.
He ordered that he also be subject to a sexual offences prevention order, which restricts his use of the internet.
Recorder Morgan said the fact he had images on a number of devices could have been to try to avoid detection or to pass the images on, and said there were troubling issues.
Johnathan Morgans, for Garnett, said that he deserved credit for his guilty plea and said that Garnett wanted to get help with his problem
