Caught again with child sex abuse images

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.

But when the police carried out a spot check last June, they found indecent images on his computer. He admitted he had been viewing images for 18 months and deleting the history, Luton Crown Court heard.

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

On Saturday, June 27 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.”

A total of 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.

Taylor Hassan, defending, asked that Riddell, a logistics worker, be given full credit for his guilty plea.

“He made full admissions in interview. He was very open about the indecent images he had been accessing,” she said.

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.”

Last Tuesday, 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.