Warning for Wirral man caught downloading indecent images of children
A WIRRAL man twice caught with child porn has been warned he will be jailed if found downloading such images again.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today that James Barlow was found to have 784 indecent images of children when police seized his laptop computer and computer tower.
All but two of the images and video clips were in the lowest category involving sexual posing and 38-year-old Barlow admitted that he gained sexual gratification from looking at them.
He also said that he liked the innocence of 16 to 18-year-old girls though the images found included children as young as 12.
The court heard that Barlow had received a police caution in July 2004 for a similar offence.
Sentencing him Judge Graham Morrow, QC, said that Barlow accepts his behaviour is wrong and he needs to address his distorted thinking to prevent such behaviour in the future.
Barlow, who lives with his parents, had never had a long-term relationship with a woman and had missed out on meetings girls when an adolescent.
Judge Morrow made a three-year community order with supervision and attendance on the Northumbria Sex Offenders programme.
He also ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for five years and made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for the same period.
Barlow also has to pay £300 towards the prosecution costs.
The judge warned him: “If you commit any similar offences you will go to jail.”
Barlow had pleaded guilty to nine offences of making indecent images between October 2007 and September 2008.
Robert Jones, prosecuting, said that in November 29 customs intercepted a package addressed to him at his home and this was found to contain a film called Teen Beauty Pageant.
Officers on Merseyside were alerted and they went to his home in Holmlands Drive, Prenton, in September 2008. He was working away in Glasgow but his computer equipment was seized.
He voluntarily went to Wirral custody suite later that day and when interviewed said he was interested in naturist sites.
He was released on bail for the computer equipment to be analysed and was not re-interviewed for a further 13 months.
John Weate, defending, said that Barlow had been frank with police and was embarrassed about the effect of the case on his family.
