Man with less than 12 months to live jailed for child images
A former prison service officer has been jailed for two years after repeatedly making indecent images of children.
Adrian Pearce, 68, admitted breaching a court order after he hid a phone from police, which was in the process of downloading images, when they searched his house.
It is the fourth time he has broken a sexual harm prevention order, and he also has two previous convictions for making images of children.
Judge Jonathan Gosling described Pearce as “devious and dishonest” as he jailed him at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Wednesday.
Pearce was told when he was convicted that he had to keep police informed of his internet use.
The court heard that police visited his house in Hopkins Heath, Shawbirch, Telford, in May of this year, to check on his use of devices.
Mr Richard Franck, prosecuting, said that Pearce initially co-operated, handing over two laptops.
However, one of the police officers made a check on the house’s router, and found that a Samsung phone had recently accessed the network.
Police soon found the phone, which was in the process of downloading images.
They also learned that he had made a search regarding a child on a Russian website, and that he had downloaded software to clear his online history.
Representing Pearce, Miss Sabhia Pathan said that the former prison service officer had recently lost his wife and had been diagnosed with heart problems that gave him less than 12 months to live.
She said temptation had got the better of him as he was caught in “a downward spiral”.
Sentencing him to two years in prison, Judge Gosling said he did not accept Pearce was open to rehabilitation.
He said: “This is the fourth time you have broken a court order. On this occasion you were using an undisclosed device to access indecent images of children.
“Frankly this is no way to honour the memory of your dead wife. I don’t accept that you are truly open to rehabilitation at this point.”
All of Pearce’s devices will be forfeited and destroyed.
In 2013, Pearce was jailed for 10 months after making nearly 50,000 indecent child images.
He received another 12 month sentence last year, and he was still on licence when he was caught again in May.
