Cleveleys man, 65, found with almost 100 indecent images of children on laptop by Lancashire Police
The 65-year-old, who was supported by two family members in court, claimed when he was arrested that the images must have found their way onto his computer when he was viewing adult porn.
A married man discovered with almost 100 indecent images of children on his laptop has avoided being sent to jail.
Gary Hawkins was handed a suspended prison sentence by a judge when he pleaded guilty to three offences of child pornography at Preston Crown Court.
The 65-year-old, who was supported by two family members in court, claimed when he was arrested that the images must have found their way onto his computer when he was viewing adult porn.
But the court heard they had been deliberately stored in an area of the device which could not be easily accessed.
Barrister Sarah Haque, prosecuting, said police received information that child sexual abuse material had been shared from an IP address in Cleveleys.
When officers called at Hawkins’ home in Thornton Gate early one morning in October 2023 they seized two mobile phones, two laptops, a desktop computer and a number of USB memory sticks.
The devices were submitted for forensic examination and one of them, an HP laptop, was found to have a total of 98 indecent images of children stored in an area which was not readily accessible to other users.
Ms Haque said there were 54 Category A images – the most serious type – together with 17 Category B and 27 Category C.
It became apparent to the police that retired engineer Hawkins was the only occupant of the house who had any knowledge of the file-sharing software used. He admitted he had used it, but not for some time.
The earliest images had been downloaded in December 2020 and the most up-to-date in April 2023.
Examples of the images stored included a still photograph of a naked girl around 15 or 16 years of age carrying out a sex act. Another showed a girl between 14 and 16 being abused. And a third was said to involve a 12-year-old girl.
One of the files was tagged “very young teen shows all and ..... on webcam”.
There was evidence that a software facility had been used to download and share files but this had since been removed from the device.
In an interview with police Hawkins admitted he was “solely responsible” for all the activity on the laptop. He accepted he had used it to access adult pornography.
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But he told officers he had “never seen indecent images” on the device. The only way the images could have ended up on the laptop was by “generally searching the internet for adult porn”.
Charlotte Phillips, representing Hawkins, said there was no suggestion he had been involved in online chat or had attempted to meet up with anyone.
“He is ashamed about this offending,” she told the court. She added he had shown remorse and had no previous convictions of any kind.
Recorder John Jones KC told Hawkins: “You initially denied it, saying the device was used only for adult pornography. But that proved not to be the case.”
He sentenced him to a total of 50 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months. He also ordered Hawkins to attend 25 rehabilitation activity days and enrolled him on the Maps for Change programme which offers one-to-one sessions for sex offenders with the probation service.
He was ordered to pay a £600 contribution towards prosecution costs and was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the next 10 years.
The laptop was confiscated and ordered to be destroyed.