Shropshire judge calls for governments to help stop child abuse images being accessed

Judge Anthony Lowe was sentencing a man for sharing indecent images of children when he declared that there must be a concerted effort by governments to stamp out the practice.

"The reality is that this will only stop when governments get together and bring pressure to bear on internet providers to stop it being accessed," he said.

It follows his warning last week, while sentencing another man for similar offences, that people across the world will continue sharing "vile" child abuse images until internet companies work together on the issue.

On Wednesday at Shrewsbury Crown Court Judge Lowe sentenced Jake Witcombe, 18, who had downloaded more than 150 images of child abuse.

Police investigated Witcombe, of Manor Crest in Ford, in July 2018 after an Instagram account that belonged to him sent indecent images to other users.

He was interviewed and gave up passwords to several accounts that were analysed but refused to disclose other passwords for cloud-sharing services, prosecutor Thomas Griffiths said.

In all, 162 indecent still and moving images were found, although most of them were inaccessible.

At Telford Magistrates Court last August, Witcombe pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images, one of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving an animal and one of attempting to incite sexual activity, relating to a picture of himself he sent to a 14-year-old girl.

'Terrible'

Representing him in the crown court, Kevin Jones reminded the judge that Witcombe was an isolated youth when he viewed the images and said that since being arrested he "has tried to put it right", regularly attending counselling.

"He is a young man who was very productive and has gone back to that way of life since moving to university," he said.

Judge Lowe told Witcombe: "There are real children at the end of the screen.

"They are real and they are being abused in the most terrible way.

"The victims are the worst victims, the most vulnerable victims in the world."

He said that sharing child abuse images was a global problem and that those who view the images "feed into that".

He told Witcombe that he was dealing with an addiction and that he would have to fight any future temptation.

Recognising that he had been seeing a counsellor, he sentenced him to a three-year community order.

Witcombe will have to complete a sex offender programme, 20 rehabilitation activity days and 100 hours of unpaid work.