Stourbridge News
Stourbridge pervert admits sick pics on phone were his
5:00pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012
A STOURBRIDGE pervert has admitted leaving child porn pictures stored on a mobile phone he sold to a pawnbroker.
Anthony Hackett left the depraved images on a device he traded on a buy back basis and when he did not return to collect it after a month, staff in the store checked the memory.
Wolverhampton Crown Court was told there were 31 indecent images in the phone and Hackett was arrested after police were informed.
Howard Searle, prosecuting, told the court Hackett's home in Audnam was then searched and officers recovered more images together with two examples of extreme pornography.
When questioned after his arrest Hackett maintained he had not been sexually aroused by the images and he said he did not think he was a paedophile.
Recorder David Crigman QC described Hackett as a "rather isolated man" and told him the majority of the images were at the lower end of the scale but that did not diminish their "despicable nature."
He said the young girls in the photographs had been used by the unscrupulous people behind the "extremely depraved" material but ruled Hackett appeared to have recognised he had been wrong to download the images.
He added: "You need professional guidance to deal with what is clearly a serious problem."
Hackett, aged 35, was given a 26 week jail term suspended for two years, placed on supervision for two years, ordered to register as a sex offender for seven years, made the subject of a seven-year Sexual Offenders Protection Order and barred from ever working with children.
Gurdeep Garcha, for Hackett, said his client downloaded the images out of a "mixture of curiosity and boredom" at a time when he had been drinking heavily.
Mr Garcha said: "He understands now these children suffered significant harm. He wants to address his behaviour and he is fully motivated to engage with the relevant programmes.
"There has been a significant change in his attitude and he does feel a real sense of shame. There is a clear element of contrition and he wants to change."
Hackett pleaded guilty to six charges of making indecent photographs of children involving images at level one and level four. He further admitted two charges of possessing extreme pornographic images.