February 2016
Man says he downloaded indecent photos of children when he was “bored”
A man has been handed a supervision order after being found with more than 50 indecent images of children.
Police who seized Neil Ian McLean’s mobile phone along with a SIM card and a external memory card found five images of children appearing to be between the ages of five and nine, 11 images of children between four and seven and 40 images of children between nine and ten, the court was told.
The 34-year-old, of Barden Moor Road, Darlington, previously admitted one charge of making indecent photographs of a child following his arrest last November.
David Maddison, prosecuting, said McLean told police he had searched for the internet images when “bored” but accepted that he had transferred the images onto the new memory card after changing phones.
Newton Aycliffe magistrates heard a psychiatric report found McLean in the lowest two per cent of the population in terms of adaptive functioning, communication skills, social skills and academic skills. His verbal IQ is in the bottom one per cent of society.
Amrit Jandoo, mitigating, said a remorseful McLean suffered from a mild learning disability and added his client had no previous similar convictions.
Going against the psychiatric report’s recommendations for a suspended sentence, Judge Martin Walker placed him under a supervision order for two years.
“I have to look at the protection of the public and a lengthy prison sentence would not be suitable,” he said. “What is needed is education, supervision and control.
“A lengthy community order is the best way of dealing with him and reducing that risk even further to the public at large.”
The defendant is automatically placed on the sex offenders’ register.
Judge Walker ordered the images destroyed and ordered McLean to pay £85 prosecution costs and £60 victim surcharge.
