Black Country man caught with ‘vile’ child porn avoids jail
Alcohol and cocaine drove a man to download “vile” child pornography, a judge heard.
But Steven Attwell was always so disgusted when he sobered up that he immediately deleted the material, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
Police uncovered the 36-year-old’s guilty secret when a tip off led them to raid his family home in Tame Road, Tipton.
They discovered 40 moving and six still images from the worst category of child porn on his computer while 148 others were classified as less obscene, said Mr Edward Soulsby, prosecuting, who added analysis of the equipment confirmed the images were deleted as soon as they had been viewed.
They were downloaded between July 2015 and October 2018 and involved children aged four to 16, the court heard. None were uploaded to other people.
Attwell viewed the porn whilst in drink and under the influence of cocaine but the following morning, when sober, was always so disgusted with himself he deleted the material, said Mr Stephen Cadwaladr, defending, who added: “The shame of his arrest was such that, after he was saved from suicide, he turned to a Christian organisation called Betel.”
The defendant, who was also a 60-a-day smoker, spent nine months at accommodation in the North East run by the organisation that helps people to recover from addiction.
By the end of his stay he had quit alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.”
Attwell, who was of previous good character, admitted being in possession of indecent images.
He was given a three-year community order with a course of rehabilitation and was ordered to pay £340 costs.
Judge Michael Challinor told him: "The pornography you viewed is absolutely vile. Why anyone would want to look at images of toddlers to gain sexual gratification is beyond me.
"If I thought it would protect the public I would send you straight to prison. My principal duty is to protect people, especially the young, from you.
"The process of prosecution has been a very real punishment for you and you are genuinely ashamed.
"A short prison sentence is not the answer and it is much better for the public for rehabilitation to turn you away from this kind of offending."
