December 200
Belfast man jailed for downloading images of children
A pervert who downloaded more than 1,000 images and five hours of film clips of children being sexually abused wept in court as he was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Belfast Crown Court Judge Tom Burgess also ordered 25-year-old Russell James Whiteside, who shared many of the photos and movies with other web perverts, to sign the police sex offenders register for the rest of his life, banned him from having any pornographic material or from owning any device which has internet access.
On occasions Whiteside, the son of a policeman and from the Belmont Church Road in east Belfast, sat in the dock wiping tears from his eyes as it was revealed that a planned wedding was called off after he was caught red-handed downloading the sickening images. He was described as a thrill-seeking addict to porn.
Prosecuting lawyer David Russell told the court that police raided his parents’ home on November 13 last year and seized a computer tower and a hard drive while he was away on holiday.
He said when they were examined, officers found a total of 1,678 images of children being sexually abused and more than five hours of movie clips with all the images ranging from category one, the least offensive, to category five, the most depraved which, according to legal authorities, can include images of incest, bestiality and sado-masochism.
