An Ashton Keynes woman caught with hundreds of child abuse images has avoided an immediate prison sentence.
Samantha Franklin admitted downloading 556 indecent photos of youngsters onto her mobile phone when she appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court last month.
In a separate case, back in September, she was handed a community order for a malicious communications offence against a paedophile hunter online.
She had described – in disturbing detail – how she had sexually abused children and a dog, and earned a community order for her crime.
At the plea hearing for the new offending, solicitor Jeremy Colenso said that his client claims she catalogued the vile material so she could “better harass” the paedophile hunter.
Returning for sentencing on 8 December Franklin, of Cove House Gardens, was given a ten-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months.
She was also given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. She must register as a sex offender for the same length of time.
Detective Constable Jason Walsh, who led the investigation, said: “Making indecent images of children is a serious offence and our team are committed to rooting out individuals like Franklin for their extremely abhorrent behaviour.
“Franklin denied being responsible for making the images throughout the whole process until eventually pleading guilty in court.
“During our investigation we found over 200 images classed as category A on Franklin’s phone – these images depict the most serious abuse of children.
“Each one of these children in the images are victims and The Child Internet Exploitation Team work tirelessly with partner agencies to try and identify those being exploited.”
