Pervert pensioner's face drops as police knock on Fareham door before finding over 3,000 child abuse images

Paul Jury, 68, was caught by police with the most disturbing pictures of infants - including babies - been subjected to sexual abuse on his computer.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard Jury, of Romsey Avenue, Fareham, admitted to officers upon their arrival to his address on January 12 last year: ‘I’ve been looking at things I shouldn’t. My life is over.’

Judge David Melville QC said: ‘Your facial reaction (when officers arrived) made them realise that you knew why they had to come to call on you.’

The court heard 3,260 images were found, with 74 of these in the most serious Category A. There were also 97 in Category B and 3,089 in Category C.

Police analysis showed Jury had accessed the dark web and deployed software to wipe his computer clean before the still and moving images were recovered.

Jury’s offending had gone on for a ‘long time’ with it thought to have spanned a period of around two years.

A probation report concluded Jury had ‘mental troubles’ and should be spared jail and instead be given a sentence in the community.

Judge Melville agreed not to impose immediate custody before telling Jury he would have locked him away immediately for three years had he not admitted his crimes.

‘You pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. You accepted your guilt when police came to your house,’ he said.

Jury admitted six counts of possessing indecent images of children and a charge of making indecent images of children for distribution.

The judge said he took account of Jury’s previous good character and his remorse as he sentenced the defendant but reminded him of the devastating impact the images portray. ‘Many of the children on camera rarely fully recover and this is one of the most appalling aspects to this,’ he said.

He sentenced Jury to two years jail suspended for two years, gave him 100 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation days.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was made for 10 years while Jury will also have to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for the same period.

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Judge Melville added: ‘If you do not commit any offences within two years you will not go to prison - it’s up to you.

‘I suspect you will not commit any more offences having realised the damage (the images) cause.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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