A paedophile was caught with extreme images of children as young as a month old on a mobile phone which he hid in a bin.
Simon McDonald, 44, was banned from owning a phone which could store images and was also banned from possessing images of a female under 18. by way of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order. Manchester Crown Court heard the disturbing find was made by police after McDonald’s case worker alerted them to the smashed phone, reports the Manchester Evening News.
However, following an analysis of the phone after finding it on November 14 2020, officers found a collection of vile images of children, and other extreme images. He was also caught in possession of indecent images and videos of children aged between one month old and 11.
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Prosecutor Jennifer Devans-Tamakloe said, in total, officers found 14 category A images - said to be the worst type - 3 category A videos; 2 category B images and one category B video; and 49 category C images. Ms Devans-Tamakloe said: “An examination of the phone found that the defendant was also using a chat app, Wickr, with the username ‘Babies3535’.
In that chat, he distributed five category C images of children. The children in those images were said to be aged between one month old and 11-years-old. McDonald was later arrested and interviewed, but gave "no comment".
The court heard that he had eight previous convictions for 41 offences, all of which were breaching of court orders, or sexual offences. McDonald’s mobile phone use is under strict legal conditions because he has a lengthy history of sex crimes, and so these offences put him in breach of those conditions.
Mitigating, Amanda Johnson said her client fully accepted the case against him. She said: “He is somebody who has clearly struggled for many years with this attraction to children of this age.
“Despite the variety of sentences he has received, he finds himself still unable to stop himself, and in November 2020, he engaged in this conduct. He has an appalling record of compliance with this order. He is very remorseful, and he recognises enough is enough.”
Sentencing, Recorder Mark Ainsworth said McDonald had "failed to appreciate" the children depicted in the photos were being sexually abused. He said: “There is a victim behind every single photo or video of sexual abuse.
“If it wasn’t for people like you who create a market for this sort of material - this sort of material would not exist. That is why courts take offences such as these so seriously and impose significant sentences to protect society from people like you.”
McDonald, of Broom Road, Wigan, pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornography, breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention order, making indecent images and distributing indecent images. He was jailed for five-and-a-half years and was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely and must sign onto the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.
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