A FORMER teaching assistant who showed “no empathy” for the children and babies being sexually abused in pornography he viewed has appeared in court for sentencing.
Michael John Harvey, 22, who had worked at a primary school in Cornwall, downloaded hundreds of images covering every level of depravity, with victims of all ages.
Yesterday, Harvey stood in the dock at Truro Crown Court for sentencing after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.
He admitted 15 specimen charges of making indecent images of children, having downloaded 290 pictures in all.
The images covered all five categories of the scale used to measure the abuse’s severity.
Judge Paul Darlow sentenced Harvey to a three-year sex offender treatment programme, ordered him to sign the Sex Offender Register and to pay £500 costs.
Wearing a suit and tie, Harvey, of Trevenen Bal, Helston, west Cornwall, spoke during the brief hearing only to confirm his name.
Philip Lee, for the prosecution, said after receiving information police had raided Harvey’s home on September 15 last year.
“In fact, when police arrived, on the defendant’s computer monitor there was an indecent image of a child,” he said.
“The defendant was arrested and during the course of the first interview he admitted he had for some time been accessing child porn websites on the internet and that he had a sexual interest in boys and girls.
“He said his interest in children was from the age of 14 or so and upwards.
“However, there were a significant number of much younger children in the images,” said Mr Lee.
Christopher Spencer, for the defence, said his client had no previous convictions and since losing his job had been living off his parents because he did not want to claim benefits.
Speaking after the case, Detective Sergeant Steve Rome of the Child Exploitation Unit said: “The judge has sent a message to these people who have a sexual interest in children and who use the internet to access child pornography: get help or get caught.”
A spokesman for Cornwall Council said: “The individual tendered his resignation almost immediately after the allegations came to light and he left the school’s employment on September 17, 2010.”
