January 2017

‘You stop being a child at 12’: Self-named paedophile 

A paedophile who told investigators “you stop being a child at 12” has escaped jail despite being found in possession of thousands of child abuse images.

Simon Colburn, 50, shared his sick views with police after being arrested in November 2015 when officers received a tip-off about men sharing child abuse images

He ended his interview by asking if he was going to prison, police said.

A search of Colburn’s flat in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset led officers to uncover an enormous stash of child images on his computers, including about 1,300 images classed as the most serious and four “extreme” images involving animals.

In an interview with investigators he said he believed childhood ends at age 12.

He only pleaded guilty the day before his trial was due to start. 

Despite more than 4,200 indecent images being found in his possession, Colburn escaped prison after being handed a nine-month suspended sentence at Bristol Crown Court on Friday (27 January).

Colburn, who had moved from his Somerset home to Caldicot, Monmouthshire since his arrest, originally denied a string of child abuse images offences but pleaded guilty in January to three counts of making indecent images of children, possession of indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornography which showed humans engaged in sexual activity with animals

His sentencing also saw him given a rehabilitation requirement for 50 days, ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and given a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.