Colwyn Bay photographer had 15,000 child porn images
A FASHION photographer had more than 15,000 sick child porn images on his computer.
A FASHION photographer had more than 15,000 sick child porn images on his computer.
Alan Hart, 73, a wedding and portrait snapper with 60 fashion models on his books, was caught out when a relative cleared out his Colwyn Bay studio.
Police uncovered thousands of images of children as young as five, with many showing some of the worst kinds of abuse imaginable.
Hart escaped a jail sentence yesterday due to ill-health, after admitting downloading the horrific images of abuse.
He’d become a well known commercial, wedding and portrait photographer after setting up his business when he was 65. But when his studios on Greenfield Road were cleared out after he suffered a stroke last year, the images were found.
Judge Niclas Parry, sitting at Mold Crown Court, said what he had done over a two-year period was to effectively participate in the gross sexual abuse of children as young as five. “You may not at this stage accept that,” he said. “But it is people like you that create the demand for things to be done to children.
“These were images of things that were actually happening to children – children were subjected to what you saw.”
Hart had worked as a marine engineer in the merchant navy and later worked for Hotpoint. When he retired he set up Alan Hart Photography, which specialised in fashion work with up-and-coming models.
Elen Owen, prosecuting, told how it was in October of last year police attended the home address of a relative of Hart’s who had previously assisted to clear out the defendant's business premises.
Officers found an excessively large amount of images on one computer: 14,914 at the least serious level one; 202 at level two, 181 at level three, 145 at level four and eight of the worst type at level five. They had all been downloaded off the internet and Hart, in interview, sought to minimise what he had done.
Judge Parry gave him a 52 week prison sentence, suspended for two years, with two years supervision.
Hart, of Ffordd Pandy, Colwyn Bay, was placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years, and an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) was made. He was ordered to pay £1,000 costs.
William Beardmore, defending, said Hart suffered a stroke in May 2009 and had been on anti-depressants since September that year. He was a man of good character, he said.
Hart admitted making the indecent images between August 2007 and April 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment