A pervert caught with "paedophile manuals" and banned from collecting pornography has been hauled back before the courts.
Nicky Lloyd was found with vile sexualised cartoon images of children aged as young as four on his computer. The 37-year-old, from Warrington, also flouted a court order not to keep any pornography at all having stashed images of video game characters in states of undress.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Wednesday, that he was handed a sexual harm prevention order in 2017 after being jailed for 26 months. This came after Lloyd's then home on Straker Avenue in Ellesmere Port was raided by police in June the previous year.
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Officers discovered more than 24,000 indecent images of children, extreme pornographic images of animals, two paedophile manuals and an instructional chat log on how to sexually abuse children. The manuals in question "provided graphic guidance and instruction on how to select, groom, gain the trust of and then sexually abuse children without getting caught".
Lloyd had downloaded these materials on the dark web, but was caught after a tip-off about his online activities. At the time, he was described as having a "clear and dangerous interest in children".
The sex offender was arrested again on July 6 this year, at which time police seized his computer as well as hard drives and a USB stick. Analysis of these devices discovered 12 prohibited images of children.
These computer generated pictures included one showing a girl aged between nine and 13 engaged in sexual activity, while another featured a naked child with an estimated age of four to seven. Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, also described a "slightly unusual" term of Lloyd's SHPO which means he is not allowed to store images of naked women, whether real or depicted.
But around 2,000 such "animated images" from video games were also found. Meanwhile, Lloyd - of Gerrard Avenue in Bewsey - had made "concerning" web searches with terms including "girls six-year-old".
He was previously convicted of breaching the sexual harm prevention order in February 2021 - receiving a community order - and appeared in court via video link to HMP Altcourse, having spent close to a month on remand in custody. Jim Smith, defending, said: "Those who have overseen the community order have effectively given a good report for him.
"They consider the defendant to be vulnerable. He is someone who never goes out of his home address.
"I accept the custodial threshold has been passed here. Your honour could consider suspended the sentence of imprisonment. This is certainly an unusual case. He is remorseful and he wants to control his urges."
Lloyd admitted possession of prohibited images of children and breaching a sexual harm prevention order during an earlier hearing and was handed a 14-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months. He was also given a programme requirement, a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 40 hours of unpaid work.
Sentencing, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: "You are now before the courts for the third time relating to sexual offences or breaching your sexual harm prevention order. This particular case straddles both these aspects.
"It is a somewhat unusual case because although there were a massive amount of images, involving some 1,800 to 2,000 images, they were effectively not realistic images but animated images - not of children but of adults, not in sexual poses per se but in situations where they were not fully and properly clothed. Although it is a clear, serious and persistent breach it is is still not to be viewed in the same light as images of children.
"But alongside that are those 12 prohibited images of children. That is still an ongoing link to your offending.
"While the imposition of a necessary custodial sentence must follow, the somewhat unusual circumstances in this case do allow me to suspend that sentence. I also take into account that for effectively a month now you have been in custody.
"I hope this will provide a salutary lesson and an indication of what is to happen if you reoffend again."
Forfeiture and destruction of the seized equipment was ordered, while Lloyd was told to pay a victim surcharge.
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