A judge spared a young defendant an immediate prison sentence, accepting that his “youthful naivety” may have played a part in him downloading indecent images of children.

But Judge James Adkin made it clear that any repeat would land William Goodall behind bars for the first time.

The 21-year-old defendant, of Dan's Castle, Tow Law, appeared at Durham Crown Court for sentence having admitted three counts of making (downloading) indecent images of children and one of possession of extreme pornography, featuring scenes of bestiality, at a hearing before Newton Aycliffe magistrates, last month.

His case was sent to be sentenced at the crown court.

Read more: County Durham man jailed for sharing indecent images of children

Jane Waugh, prosecuting, told the sentencing hearing that police went to his home on October 29, 2020, and seized two iPhones belonging to Goodall.

Miss Waugh said both were found to contain indecent images of children, with 244 recovered, 35 in the most serious category, while 59 extreme pornographic images were found on a Kik messenger application on one of the devices.

The child abuse images were stored on a Dropbox account with folders created for them.

Goodall was said to have been in multiple messaging groups where some of the extreme pornographic images were shared.

Miss Waugh said when initially interviewed, the defendant was in denial over the images.

In a subsequent interview, in March last year, he again denied knowledge of the illegal imagery and claimed he had not installed the applications on which they were contained, suggesting that somehow the illicit material found on his phone may relate to bullying he endured when younger.

Vic Laffey, for the defendant, said in mitigation that he had come clean and made admissions when the case went before magistrates.

Mr Laffey said that the defendant has taken steps since his arrest to ensure there is no repeat.

“He doesn’t own a phone and doesn’t have a computer, nothing.”

Mr Laffey said Goodall was only aged 18 or 19 at the time of the offending.

“Since the date of the offence he’s a normal 21-year-old, with a good job, working long hours, a partner and he has a stable family relationship.”

Mr Laffey added that the defendant’s boss is prepared to stand by him and is happy to employ him in a trusted capacity.

Read more: West Auckland man jailed for attempting to incite child to engage in sex

Judge James Adkin said a pre-sentence report, prepared by the Probation Service for the hearing, suggested, “you didn’t really understand the seriousness of collecting such images.”

He told Goodall that they were images of real children being abused and harmed by adults.

Judge Adkin said each time they are downloaded it provides “a market place” encouraging the people carrying out the abuse and filming it to create more such material.

But he said he was prepared to give Goodall a chance, attributing his offending in part down to his, “youthful naivety”.

He imposed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, during which the defendant must attend 30 days of a sex offender programme and take part in 15 rehabilitation activity days with the Probation Service.

Goodall must also carry out 120-hours’ unpaid work.

He was made subject of registration as a sex offender and restrictions under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, both for seven years.

The judge added that should Goodall fail to comply with the order, or repeat his offending, he would be sent to prison with no second chances.

Read next:

               County Durham man had more than 1,200 indecent images of children

               True extent of indecent image viewer's offending may never be known

               Ex-military school pupil downloaded hundreds of images of child abuse

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