A PHOTOGRAPHER has avoided jail after he admitted downloading indecent images of children.
Patrick Benson was found to have 100 indecent images of teenage girls on computer equipment which was seized by police in October 2011.
The 44-year-old admitted six charges of making indecent images of children, by downloading them, in September of this year.
Yesterday he was sentenced to a 12-month community order with supervision and was placed on the sex offenders register for five years.
Benson, of Caledonian Close, Barrow, pleaded guilty on the premise he was unaware he had downloaded the images and had never viewed them.
Lancaster Crown Court heard the defendant had used torrent download site Pirate Bay to access adult pornography but indecent images of children had downloaded at the same time.
He was made aware of this when interviewed by police in March 2010, but continued to use the site and more images of children were found when computer hardware was seized from Benson a year-and-a-half later.
Prosecuting, Mr Kenneth Grant said Benson had admitted the charges on the basis he knew the risks of using torrent sites.
He said: “Mr Benson continued to use Pirate Bay and even though he was not looking for such indecent images, as a result of his use, a series of images were found on the computer.”
Defending, Mr David Traynor said his client posed no risk to children and called for the judge to issue a conditional discharge.
Mr Traynor said Benson had suffered during the 18 months he had been on police bail and his car and house had been daubed with graffiti.
He said: “In reality the last two years have been more of a sentence and a punishment than anything you would issue today, your honour.”
However Judge Anthony Lancaster said the community was right to be concerned about child pornography.
He said: “I do not condone vigilante actions but he will be dealt with by the courts.”
Sentencing Benson, Judge Lancaster said anyone who downloaded indecent images of children, whether knowingly or not, was increasing the risk of children being abused.
He told Benson: “By not taking that advice (of the police), you took a risk to continue using the site and thus the images continued to come on to your computer.”
