A grandfather who looked at child abuse online says his debilitating stroke was karma.
Jason King appeared at Salisbury Crown Court on Friday (10 November) to be sentenced for three counts of the possession of incident images of children.
The 57-year-old, of Bramble Drive, Westbury, was caught with abhorrent sex abuse pictures and videos featuring boys and girls – many of them as young as seven.
Police attended his home address after receiving information from a internet service provider, seizing three laptops and a mobile phone.
During examination of the devices, 205 category A images – showing the most severe child abuse – were located. As were 399 category b images and 1371 category C.
In interview, he told officers that he had been watching pornography but claimed it was legal and that why would not find any child-related material.
The court heard that the defendant has a previous conviction for indecent assault on a child aged under 14 dating back to 1992.
Judge Angela Morris interjected ahead of defence barrister Kellie Evener opening her mitigation.
She said: “What I find most concerning about this, in your clients case, is the denial of any sexual interest in children, because it doesn’t wash, to put it in blunt terms.”
Responding, Ms Evener said: “Mr King clearly still has some difficulties in what he has preferences for, if I can put it like that.”
She said that her client “accepts where his habits lie” and has “taken it upon himself” to undertake a course to address his offending behaviour, which he has completed successfully.
Ms Evener added that King has “high levels of remorse”, which were “assessed as a genuine” in a pre-sentence report (PSR).
“He is not only a husband and a father, he is a grandfather; there are going to be consequences, far-reaching consequences.”
The court heard that King described his debilitating stroke – for which he now requires a wheelchair to get around – “karma” in the PSR.
Judge Morris said that “the notion that this was anything other than indecent images of children is frankly propitious”, but accepted he had made “efforts to try to address some of your offending behaviour”.
She said his previous sexual offence is “of concern to this court” and added that there is “there is something of a link between them”.
Judge Morris imposed a 22-month prison sentence and suspended it for two years. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years, alongside a Sexual Harm Prevention Order – which prohibits him from having contact with children.
She told him to complete 50 rehbilitation activity days with the probation service.
Adding: “Make no mistake about it, the only reason I have not sent you to prison today is because of your stroke and your immobility… this is your one chance.”
