A man who downloaded child porn video clips and photographs from the internet was caught following a tip off from America’s FBI.
John Wilcock downloaded the images with a friend then created files to store his 200-strong collection. Police in South Yorkshire raided his home as part of the Operation Ore investigation in which intelligence is passed from American law enforcement agencies to their counterparts in the UK.
The investigation was triggered when Wilcock tapped into an American website with his friend’s credit card.
At Sheffield Crown Court, Wilcock, aged 40, of Goosebutt Court, Rawmarsh, admitted 16 offences of downloading child porn between 1999 and 2002.
He was given a two-year community rehabilitation order after a judge heard he was suffering from depression and an unusual hereditary disease called Marfan’s Syndrome, where weak connective tissue affects the heart, skeletal frame, eyes and other organs.
Judge David Bentley QC told him: “The offences normally attract a sentence of immediate imprisonment.” “That was obviously a very real possibility in your case.” Wilcock will be included on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years.
