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Kiddie net pictures man keeps freedom

31/ 5/2006

A HADFIELD man whose 'curiosity' led to him make indecent images of a child walked free from Derby Crown Court.

In a case described by Judge Simon Hammond as "exceptional", William Sorby was instead handed a three-year rehabilitation order and told to pay £1,059 court costs.

The 58 year old admitted four counts of making indecent images of a child and three further counts of possessing indecent images of a child.

The police raided Sorby's home, seized his computer and arrested him on 18 December, 2003.

Sorby told them he had used the internet to view images of sado-masochism and bestiality between 1 February 2001 and 1 January 2003 and had clicked onto pop-up thumbnail images of indecent websites involving children.

Prosecutor Mark Achurch said that the majority of the images were "level one or two" but on at least one occasion he viewed a "level four" picture with a child involved in sexual activity.

"He accessed a number of sites in that way but said he wasn't aroused and was somewhat revolted by the images, but nevertheless interested. He knew the images were indecent but did not save them and was unaware that the computer did so automatically."

Defending, David Pickup said: "In interview he said he had realised it was illegal to pay to subscribe but not to have it appear on your computer screen.

"He never sought out images again and was unaware they were retained on his computer."

Some 493 indecent images of children were due to a man Sorby had befriended via a shooting club. He had used his computer, unbeknown to Sorby, to access child porn sites and download them. The friend, now deceased, also used Sorby's credit card details to subscribe to sites. The friend professed to be a computer expert and once took the computer away to repair.

Mr Pickup said Sorby realised his details had been used without authorisation. "He became aware but didn't act immediately and inform the police but he did request the person to destroy the images. All had been deleted by December 2002, a year before police found them.