January 2016

Jailed For Child Sex Abuse Images on computer for 2nd time

A man from Leighton Buzzard’s been jailed for 20 months after pictures of child sex abuse were found on his computer for the second time in 3 years.

Ian Riddell, 52, had been given a chance in 2012 when he was not sent to prison and received a Community Order.

One condition of his sentence was that he must not delete his internet history.

Police found the images during a spot check last year and he admitted he’d been viewing and then deleting images for 18 months, Luton Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Sandra Beck said Riddell had been sentenced to the 3 year Community Order with supervision at Aylesbury Crown Court on 1 November 2012 for 8 charges relating to indecent images of children.

On Saturday 27 June last year the police made an unannounced visit to his address and asked to see his computer. He took the officers to his bedroom, where there was a Compaq laptop.

The computer was examined and it was discovered he had been accessing pornographic sites using search terms such as “Boys and Girls” and “Gay Boy.”

15 images were at Category A, the most serious level, 26 were at Category B and 91 at Category C, the least serious level.

He admitted he had been deleting his internet history use, had been accessing images for 18 months and had purchased a new, clean hard drive from eBay.

Riddell, a father of two, of Nelson Road, Leighton Buzzard, pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual offences prevention order, and three charges of making (downloading) indecent images of children.

Judge Michael Kay QC told him: “Your offending was calculating and devious. This is the second time in quite a short period of time that you have committed these sort of offences and it was done in breach of a court order.”

The judge ordered that the laptop is forfeited and made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for an indefinite period.

It means that the police will now be able to monitor his computer use remotely.

Riddell must also register as a Sex Offender for 10 years.