Judge tells Blackpool paedophile William Martin: If you come back you will sentence yourself to prison
A paedophile has been given one last chance by a judge to conquer his “demons” with a warning that prison looms and he might never come out.
William Martin, who is said to have a number of serious health issues, was handed a final opportunity to stop accessing child pornography which he was said to have “a deep compulsion” to view.
Judge Guy Mathieson gave Martin, from Blackpool, a 12-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months after he was convicted of breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) eight times and twice failing to comply with requirements to notify police if he acquires any device capable of accessing the internet.
“If you come back you will sentence yourself to prison,” he told him. “You will have done that to yourself.”
Martin, in his 60s but said to have a “functioning age” of between 14 and 16, was made the subject of a SHPO in March 2021 after being convicted of possessing illegal images of children and also extreme pornographic pictures.
A condition of that order was that he must not acquire any mobile phones or laptops which allow him to view porn on the net.
Barrister Eleanor Watson, prosecuting, told the court that two police officers visited his home in Blackpool unannounced to carry out a check. Martin handed them his mobile phone which they examined and could find nothing of concern.
But one of the officers asked if he could search the house and upstairs in Martin’s bedroom he found a Samsung Galaxy A40 mobile phone on the bedside table.
According to the SHPO he should only have one phone and when asked about it he said he had forgotten he had that one. He started getting agitated and told the officer to throw it in the bin.
When it was examined it was found to have a VPN (Virtual Private Network) installed which masks a device’s IP address and makes it difficult to track what sites have been accessed.
Photographs of children were later found on the phone and evidence that he had been searching for pornographic material.
Two months later the same officers called at the house again and once more found nothing suspicious on his mobile phone. They asked him if it was his only phone and he said it was.
But in his bedroom there were two chargers and one was for a Samsung Galaxy S7. He denied knowing who that phone belonged to. He was arrested.
Martin’s defence barrister David Morton said his client suffered from “a number of extremely serious health difficulties,” the most recent having been a stroke.
His father and brother-in-law were in the public gallery to watch the hearing. “They condemn his behaviour, but they utterly support him and believe that he is an individual who will require intervention and help for the rest of his life,” he said.
“The wider family are most concerned about Mr Martin and he doesn’t understand that at all.
“He is a lonely man. He lives alone with his cat.
“He minimises his behaviour, he is deceptive. It is a long-established pattern of behaviour. He is struggling to resist his compulsions.”
Mr Morton said that after being sentenced previously for child pornography offences his house had been “ransacked by a mob.”
Despite his behaviour he had been assessed as a low risk and Mr Morton told the judge that in spite of his history he was an individual who could be managed in the community.
“I don’t pretend that this offence doesn’t cross the custody threshold, it clearly does.”
Judge Mathieson told Martin: “You cut a rather sad figure, because having had your experiences in custody . . . there remains a deep, deep compulsion in you to continue offending.
“You don’t see it as offending, but that’s what it is. It is secretive, you can’t stop yourself. You want to hide it and keep it hidden from those who look after you and support you. That’s why it’s all done behind closed doors.
“How do we stop you doing this? They (family) are desperate for you not to be here. They know, as do you, of the very real risk that this is going to end up with another prison sentence. You may end up with a life sentence because you may not come out (due to health problems).
“It is a real risk putting you back into society because every image you try and seek out over Google search is an endorsement of child torture. It is the torture of children.
“You are a simple character who knows what he has done and can’t change. On the other hand you want to change.
“It may just be that one more attempt to address your demons might just benefit us all. I am not convinced, but I am going to put you on a suspended sentence.”
In addition to the suspended sentence Martin was told he must undergo 10 days of rehabilitation activities on a one-to-one basis.
And the judge told him that while his family still supported him: “They don’t condone it, but there will come a time when even they give up on you.
“Don’t let that happen, please don’t let that happen. If you do you know what is heading your way.”