March 2012

Man hoarded thousands of indecent photographs

The former boss of an organisation that provided school meals was caught hoarding thousands of indecent images of children when police swooped on his Craven home, a court heard.

Neil Stoddart, 58, became addicted to pornographic photos of young girls after being “bounced” into early retirement from his job as head of Education Contract Services with Bradford Council.

Stoddart pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court to 16 offences of making an indecent photograph of a child and one of possession of the photos, between January 1, 2009, and July 15, 2010.

Prosecutor Patrick Gallagher said that almost all the images were at level one, the least series on the scale.

However, the court heard that “a handful” were at more serious levels.

Mr Gallagher said police seized computers from Stoddart’s then address in Gargrave, on July 11, 2010.

He was arrested as part of a national police crackdown on internet child pornography that tracked people logging on to illegal sites.

The court heard that Stoddart admitted “virtually on his doorstep” that he had child porn in the house when North Yorkshire Police called round. He continued to be extremely frank with detectives throughout the investigation.

Stoddart told them he began viewing pornography in 2009 and that escalated to include indecent images of children.

The court heard that the photos were of pre-pubescent girls of South East Asian origin posing in underwear.

Among computers seized from the property were two containing child pornography. Stoddart said he got rid of one computer to try to halt his compulsion but his urge to look at the material was too strong and he continued his illegal activities on a second machine.

Mr Gallagher told the court that one computer had 6,831 indecent images on it but only seven were accessible.

Stoddart’s barrister, Sophie Drake, said a probation service report was prepared at an early stage, after he was committed to the Crown Court by Skipton magistrates.

Miss Drake said Stoddart’s wife was standing by him. He was forced into early retirement in 2009/2010 and had taken steps to deal with his child porn addiction since his arrest by seeking help from a specialist charity.

Judge Peter Benson sentenced Stoddart, now of Gisburn Road, Sawley, to a three-year community order with supervision.

He must attend the Internet Sexual Offenders’ Group and pay £1,200 court costs.

The judge ordered him to sign on the sex offenders’ register for five years and made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order to monitor his use of computers.

Judge Benson said Stoddart was a man of previous good character who had held down a highly responsible job for many years.

“It seems to me that you have some compulsion to look at images of this sort,” Judge Benson said.