December 2012

Judge spares Newton Abbot man, 52

A JUDGE has told a Newton Abbot man it would be pointless to send him to prison for possessing indecent images of children.

Nicholas Morgan, 52, of Rundle Road, was found with 242 images of children on his computer.

He pleaded guilty to five charges of making indecent photographs of children and two counts of possessing images.

But the court heard he was a man of previous good character and the offences ‘come down the list of seriousness’.

Exeter Crown Court was told Morgan’s mother-in-law had become suspicious after discovering indecent sites on his computer.

Prosecutor Alistair Verheijen said she had been shocked by what she found and called the police.

Morgan at first denied any knowledge of the sites and told the police they could check his computer.

But when the hard drive was examined they found a number of searches indicating he had been looking for the child sex sites.

Some photos had been deleted, the prosecutor said.

The images ranged from level one to level three with level five being the most serious.

Mitigating Rupert Taylor said Morgan had always been in employment. He provided three character references for the judge to read.

Morgan was told to take part in a sexual offenders treatment programme and pay £1,000 costs.