Community order for Dalton man (36) who had nearly 800 child abuse images

A MAN who had hundreds of indecent images of children — including one girl believed to be as young as two — on his devices has been given a community order.

Leslie Evitts (36), of Doncaster Road, Dalton, also had more than 4,000 computer-generated images of children and extreme pornography involving children and animals on his devices — but he avoided a jail term at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday (19).

Police officers discovered on June 27, 2017, that someone at Evitts’ home address had been accessing indecent images of children, Mr Brian Outhwaite, prosecuting, said.

Evitts was working in Doncaster when police officers called at his address but they later tracked him down and arrested him.

Officers seized four devices — including three computers  — but it took them 13 months to get them analyzed, Mr Outhwaite said.

They found 191 category A images (the most extreme level), 123 category B images and 467 category C images.

Some of the most extreme images showed very young girls being abused — one was aged between three and six and another was aged between two and five, Mr Outhwaite said.

Police officers also found 4,006 prohibited images of children — the majority of which were computer-generated images — and two extreme pornographic images involving children and animals on his devices.

When he was arrested, Evitt told officers that he had looked at the images but had not searched for them.

“The forensic report confirmed there were searches for children on his devices,” said Mr Outhwaite.

“He admitted searching for these images and [that] he was sexually aroused by looking at them.” 

Evitts had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court, to making indecent photographs of children, possessing prohibited images of children and possessing extreme pornography. 

Judge Rachael Harrison sentenced Evitts to a two-year community order, which will include a 40-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years and was given a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

Under the terms of the order, Evitt will not be allowed to use any device capable of accessing the internet without making it available to a police officer and is forbidden from deleting his internet history or masking it by using an incognito browser.

Judge Harrison said: “You have undergone counselling and begun to appreciate what you are doing is wholly wrong and that the children in the photos are being abused just as if you were doing it yourself.

“There’s been a 12-month delay before examination of your computer and a further five-

month delay before your case came to court and that is not acceptable in my view.

“I note the fact that you have no previous convictions.

“These were not a large number of images and in these circumstances, bearing in mind the counselling you have undertaken, I will not be giving you a prison sentence.”

  • If you are concerned about what you are looking at online, or the online behaviour of someone you know, you can call the confidential and anonymous ‘Stop It Now’ helpline on 0808 1000 900 for advice, support and help to stop. Or visit https://get-help.stopitnow.org.uk/ to find out more.