James Osborn, a resident of Needham Market, received a suspended prison sentence after downloading over 1,000 obscene photographs and videos of children as young as two.
In February of the previous year, police conducted a search of 48-year-old James Osborn’s residence, confiscating a mobile phone, a laptop, and a hard drive, as shown in Ipswich Crown Court.
The analysis of the equipment revealed 228 indecent photographs and 72 videos classified as level A, 284 images and 16 videos categorised as level B, and 501 images together with four films in the lowest level C category.
Mark Halsey, representing the prosecution, stated that male and female minors aged two to 15 were depicted in the obscene photos and films downloaded by James Osborn between 2014 to 2022.
James Osborn, residing on Foxglove Avenue in Needham Market, confessed to three charges of producing indecent photos of minors and two charges of possessing severe pornographic material.
James Osborn was given a 12-month prison sentence that was suspended for two years, a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement, a 100 day alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement and 180 hours of unpaid work.
He was also given a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for the same period.
Sentencing James Osborn, Judge Emma Peters said that people like him fuelled the trade in indecent images which ruined children’s lives.
“If you didn’t download these images there would be no need for such a trade and it would die out and children would be protected,” said the judge.
The court that James Osborn, who has no previous convictions and had not been caught before, had started viewing the indecent images of children before the Covid lockdowns but it had increased during the pandemic at a time when he was drinking too much.
He was now three months sober, although alcohol does not make people become sexually attracted to children, and had sought help from the Lucy Faithfull organisation to help prevent him reoffending.
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