Court: North Anston man who had hundreds of indecent images of children told he faces jail if he offends again

Jordan Gould (23), of Narrow Lane, North Anston, had pictures on his laptop and phone of children as young as six being abused.

He was sentenced to a 30-month community order at Sheffield Crown Court last Thursday.

Mr Andrew Smith, prosecuting, told the court that police officers acting on intelligence had visited Gould’s home in June 2016, and seized his laptop and iPhone.

When officers analysed the devices, they found 465 indecent images of children, including 134 category A images - the most graphic kind - most of which were still images.

They also found 23 extreme pornographic images and two prohibited images of children, said Mr Smith.

One of the most graphic images showed boys aged between seven and nine while another showed girls aged between six and eight.

Gould denied having indecent images on his computer when he was interviewed by the police, Mr Smith said.

His computer and files were password-protected but specialist officers managed to access them.

The images had been downloaded between November 2012, when Gould was 16, and 2016.

“In 2012, the defendant was involved in email correspondence with people who appeared to have a similar interest in the viewing of children under the age of 18,” said Mr Smith.

Gould admitted to making indecent photographs of children, possession of prohibited images of children and possession of extreme pornography at an earlier hearing at Sheffield Crown Court.

Mitigating, Mr Dermot Hughes, said Gould had acquired habits at the start of his offending, when he was still a child, without realising “the awfulness of his activity” or “the harm caused by images of this kind”.

Sentencing Gould, Judge Michael Slater told him: “The offences, taken together, are so serious that, in an ordinary course of events, only a significant term of custody would be justified.

“It is said you became embroiled in addictions to pornography of an extreme nature at an early age due to problems you were experiencing at the time.

“Each of these photographs has a young victim and people like you cause victims of that sort by your predilection for images of this nature.

“I hope, by now, you realise the true nature and seriousness of what you have done.”

Mr Slater said that if he had jailed Gould he would have moved “no further forward” by the end of his sentence.

Instead, he gave him a 30-month community order which included 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and a sex offender’s programme.

“Either comply with the order, co-operate with the probation service, get out of the filthy mire that you wallow in at the moment, or go to prison, it’s as simple as that,” said Mr Slater.

“This will be by no means an easy option - if you don’t do it, you will be back before me and if that happens, in all likelihood, I will send you away.”

Gould was also given a five-year sexual harm prevention order which will ban him from deleting his internet history, using software which would mask his browsing history or using an internet-enabled device without making it available for inspection.

A spokeswoman for the Lucy Faithfull Foundation said: “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.”