'But I don't touch kids' Telford pensioner tells police as he's caught with 3,000 indecent images of children

More than 800 of the images found on devices belonging to Gary Jones of Lawley Furnaces were of the worst, category A type, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Thursday.

The 67-year-old was caught in 2022, the court was told, when police raided his house after his IP address had been identified as downloading indecent images of children.

Judge Peter Barrier heard that when police arrested Jones at his Lawley home in October of that year, the pensioner admitted his offences, telling officers: “It was me who did it. I looked at them online, I did not send them anywhere – but I don't touch kids.”

Ms Alexa Carrier, defending Jones, told the judge that the defendant had pleaded guilty to downloading 811 category A images of children, 761 Category B images and 1,452 category C images, after police found a stockpile of images on several devices, including an Acer laptop. 

Jones also admitted a charge of downloading extreme pornography.

However, Ms Carrier said the defendant had not re-offended since his arrest in 2022 and had no relevant previous convictions.

 Judge Barrie told Jones: “I think you have come to understand the serious you did by seeking out indecent images of children.

“You fully co-operated with police and have not reoffended since these offences came to light.”

He said that he believed the pensioner had a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation” and placed him on a community order for 15 months, with a requirement to take part in 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days with the probation service.

Jones was also ordered to pay £250 in court costs.