A man who had already served a jail sentence for child pornography reverted to his old ways after getting a smart phone – by searching for images of girls as young as two being abused.
Robert Chaston is now back behind bars after a Warwick Crown Court jailed him for a year after he pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images of children.
Chaston (65) of Juckers Road, Longford, Coventry, who admitted two further charges of possessing extreme pornography, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.
Prosecutor Lisa Hancox said that in October last year the police had information that a particular internet forum had been accessed from IP addresses linked to Chaston’s home and workplace.
It was believed that ‘child-related material’ had been downloaded from the site.
“He was arrested at his place of work, and officers seized two phones and a Kindle,” said Miss Hancox.
Indecent images of children were found when the devices were inspected.
There were a total of 21 images classed as being in category A, showing girls as young as three or four and up to the age of 13 being subjected to penetrative sex acts.
The 32 category B images, some of which were found on Chaston’s Kindle, showed girls as young as two being subjected to non-penetrative sexual activity.
And there were 80 category C images of young girls in naked or indecent poses, but without actual sexual activity.
Search terms used by Chaston included ‘young girl sex’ and ‘tiny girls’.
He also had extreme pornographic images of women taking part in sex acts with animals.
Miss Hancox pointed out that in 2003 Chaston had been jailed for six months for four offences of making indecent images of children.
When he was interviewed about his latest images, he said he had started to re-offend after smart phones came out.
Siobhan Collins, defending, said Chaston has since undertaken an online course to address his offending, and has found it ‘a harrowing experience to focus on what he had done, and what he had done remotely to the victims of these images.’
“He is now a man with next-to-nothing in his life. He has now retired, and lives with his mother who’s in her 90s and has her own difficulties.
“He is suitable for intervention from the probation service. He’s someone who needs careful handling to prevent this happening again.”
Arguing for a community order with a sex offender’s programme, Miss Collins added: “Prison didn’t stop him. Perhaps this is a constructive way of dealing with him.”
But jailing Chaston, Recorder Kevin Hegarty QC told him: “You have a family of your own, and you have grandchildren, but you have let yourself be encompassed in this distorted world of indecent images of children.
“Your family has in effect disowned you, which is a punishment more severe than anything I could impose on you. But it has to be a custodial sentence.”
