April 2012

Uley paedophile caught with thousands of indecent images is spared jail

A PAEDOPHILE with more than 5,000 child porn pictures and videos on his computer has walked free from court.

Jonathan Coulson, who has a previous conviction for sexually assaulting on a five year old girl in 1989, was given six months to undergo therapy and prove he is serious about “addressing his behaviour”.

At Gloucester Crown Court Coulson, 58, of The Street, Uley, pleaded guilty to 11 offences of possessing indecent images of children – including some of the most serious categories.

Mary Harley, prosecuting, said police seized a laptop and an external hard drive from his home in June.

Although there were 132 indecent images of children on his laptop, there were just over 5,000 images and videos of children on his hard drive. She said 3,394 at level 1 (the least serious), 257 at level 2, 776 at level 3, 605 at level 4 and 60 at level 5 (the most serious).

When Coulson was first interviewed, before the computers had been examined, he told police they would find adult porn and naturism pictures but nothing involving children.

But later he admitted downloading them.

“He said he had become interested in this type of material and was ashamed and knew it was wrong. He had been doing it for approximately two years,” she said.

Mrs Harley said in 1989 Coulson had received 12 months jail for sex offences against a five-year-old girl which had been committed over a four month period.

Ian Kelcey, defending, said he had represented Coulson in 1989 and the sentence had been reduced on appeal.

Since his latest arrest Coulson had sought help for his deviancy, even before he was charged by police, Mr Kelcey said.

Coulson’s employer was aware of his offences and was prepared to keep him on, he said.

“He has a good job which involves no contact whatsoever with children.”

Appealing to the court not to jail Coulson, Mr Kelcey said: “His mother is suffering from Alzheimer’s and he is the one who has regular contact with her, twice a week at least.

“If he were imprisoned he would lose his job and he would be unlikely to get any work again.”

Deferring sentence on Coulson until April 13, Judge Jamie Tabor said he expected him to undergo weekly sessions with a therapist.

“I expect a report at the end of that period to tell me that you are beginning to acknowledge your true deviancy, which you are not yet acknowledging.”

He said Coulson would be under probation service supervision and the judge made a sex offender prevention order against him.

Neighbours said they believed Coulson, who they knew as a quiet man, had moved to Portishead in the last few weeks.