The former employer of a paedophile chef said they were "appalled" to learn he had a sickening collection of child abuse pictures and videos.
Chef and Brewer pub The Swan said it was "shocked and appalled" to learn paedophile Steve Finall had collected a stash of vile child abuse pictures and videos while in their employment. The Swan, in Winwick, said the first it had learned of Finall's court case was when the story was broken in the ECHO this morning, Wednesday, September 28.
Finall collected a stash of child abuse pictures and videos including photos of toddlers being raped. But despite this, he was handed a suspended prison sentence at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday afternoon.
READ MORE: Paedophile chef at 'family friendly' pub had sick child abuse images
The court heard Cheshire Police raided the 45-year-old's home in Warrington on January 13 this year after receiving information about suspect activities on Snapchat. A search warrant was executed and officers seized a Samsung tablet computer and a mobile phone.
These devices were subsequently found to contain 34 pictures and two videos graded as being category A indecent images, materials showing the most serious forms of abuse. Also discovered were 32 category B photographs, as well as 121 pictures and one video in category C.
Most were found in cache files, having been deleted from Finall's photo gallery. The images had been collected over the previous 12 months, with one having shown a two-year-old child being raped.
Finall "appeared to accept he received indecent images of children" under interview after being arrested. Despite this the court heard Finall, a kitchen manager at Chef & Brewer pub The Swan received "remarkable support from his employer", with Simeon Evans, defending, adding: "He has been honest with his employer and his family, and he is supported in court today."
But a spokesperson for the Swan said they were "shocked and appalled to read the headlines this morning". They added "this was the first time we had been made aware of the court case and sentencing". The spokesperson also said Finall, who gave his address in court as the Golborne Road pub, does not live there.
The Swan told the ECHO : “We can confirm he no longer works at the pub and if any allegations had been made to us previously we would have dealt with them in a swift and appropriate manner through our usual HR processes.
“Any comments made in the court about support from his employer must have been around general support he received during his time working at the pub. We are so deeply upset and distressed by this and please ask our customers to understand that we have found out about this news at the same time as everyone else.”
Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, described how the terms Finall used to search the internet "indicated the defendant had been specifically searching for that type of material". Finall, who worked 55-hour weeks at the Swan and had no previous convictions, was also in possession of a bag of cocaine.
Finall admitted possession of indecent images, possession of cocaine and three counts of making indecent images. He was given a six-month imprisonment suspended for two years and was told to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
Recorder Mark Ainsworth also imposed a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 35 days plus a sexual harm prevention order and a notification requirement, both lasting seven years. Finall was told to pay a victim surcharge, with forfeiture of the electronics and destruction of the drugs ordered.
Sentencing, the judge said: "For you, it must have been a shock to find yourself standing in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court. You must understand the court takes a very dim view of this sort of conduct. The point that needs to be emphasized time and time again is that behind each of those images is a child being sexually abused.
"If there was no marketplace for those images and people like you looking on the internet searching for them, the abuse would not take place. The circumstances of this case are such that, while I am obliged to impose a sentence of imprisonment, it can be suspended due to their being a good prospect of rehabilitation.
"I do think it is impressive that your employer is standing by you. I do believe the probation service can work well with you to ensure that this conduct is not repeated in the future."
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