'Deluded' Portsmouth man caught with child abuse images 'warned police of paedophile ring'

Ian Bradford, 49, of Victoria Road North, Southsea, admitted three charges of making indecent images of children.

Images of children as young as eight were found by police. Most were of children over 11. Some showed adult men abusing the children.

Officers had started their investigation after Bradford contacted them reporting concerns about paedophiles on his computer.

Bradford had not been taking his medication but was using drugs and was in a ‘mania conspiratorial delusion as a result of what happened in his upbringing,’ defence barrister Philip Allman said.

Prosecutor Oliver Wellings said the defendant told police ‘he’d tried to highlight a website that was encouraging paedophiles’.

When officers analysed his laptop, seized in June 2019, they found 16 images - five at category A, the worst rating used by police.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard that in March 2020 Bradford called 999 discussing paedophilia.

Judge Tim Mousley QC said the transcript revealed his ‘mind was disturbed’ at the time.

He said Bradford’s bipolar disorder was linked to him accessing the images between January 1, 2018 and June 1, 2019.

Judge Mousley imposed an eight-month jail term suspended for 18 months with 30 days’ rehabilitation activities.

Bradford must sign the sex offenders’ register and comply with a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

Addressing the defendant, the judge said there was ‘perhaps a risk that you may seek out children’ in the future due to the ‘somewhat uncertain state of your mental health’.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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