A FACTORY worker who used an internet chatroom to download indecent pictures of young girls told police that he was trying to trace paedophiles.
But Judge Robert Juckes QC said Cliff Butler had used the explanation as a pretence to disguise his “furtive” use of the Fast Flirt chatline.
Butler, aged 36, of Purleigh Avenue, Warndon, Worcester, pleaded guilty to six sexual activity offences.
Three were of encouraging others to distribute illegal images of children, two of possessing illegal images and one of having extreme porn.
He was given a three-year community order with supervision by the probation service and a requirement to complete a sexual offences programme. He has to sign on the sex offenders register for five years and was ordered to pay £1,200 costs.
Paul Whitfield, prosecuting atWorcester Crown Court, said the offences between March and April last year came to light after it was discovered that Butler had accessed the chatroom through his mobile phone.
His activities were reported to police.
Butler’s phone and SIM card were seized and analysis showed the indecent material which had been downloaded. He had used a variety of names with a sexual connotation and his conversations contained explicit references to fantasies.
When interviewed, Butler claimed he had been trying to trap paedophiles, but had not had the courage to inform the police before he was found out. It seemed that his efforts had backfired on him, he said. Barry Newton, defending, said Butler, who had a caution in 2006 for assaulting police, had worked at a factory for five years and was told he could keep his job.
He submitted references from family and friends and pointed out that Butler had been candid with both police and the probation service. Although he was not arrested until October last year and not charged until February, he had admitted the offences immediately.
Judge Juckes said the indecent images were of the lowest level and there was no evidence that Butler had sent or received any of them.
He said the offences would cause most decent-thinking and respectable members of the community to recoil in disgust.
