Hubby with child porn stash ‘hated children’
Crime
A self-confessed pornography addict found with child sex abuse images on his computer told the police he hated children.
Stephen Mason, of Redbourn, was found to have more than 1,000 child pornography pictures when his computer was examined, St Albans Crown Court heard on Friday.
Prosecutor Alex Krikler said officers went to Mason’s home on October 18 last year.
A Dell computer tower was seized from his bedroom, along with an external hard drive and DVDs.
When these were examined officers found one child sex abuse image at Level 5, which is the most serious level.
There were 84 classified as Level 4, a further 49 at Level 3 and 21 at Level 2, though the majority of images – more than 900 – were at Level 1.
Mason was interviewed later and told the police he was addicted to pornography and had alcohol problems.
“He said he hated children and doesn’t want them around,” said Mr Krikler.
“He said he went on the internet when he was drunk and at that stage was drinking 100 pints a week. He accepted full responsibility for what was found and said he was disgusted with himself and needed help.”
Mason, 44, appeared for sentence after earlier pleading guilty to nine counts of making indecent photographs of children, one of possession of images and two of having extreme pornography. He had no previous convictions.
Recorder Samantha Leigh said that if she jailed him, which could be no more than a few weeks under guidelines, Mason would not receive the treatment he needed to stop re-offending.
She passed a three year community order with three years supervision, and told him to pay £450 in costs.
Mason must take part in a sexual offences treatment programme and an alcohol treatment programme.
He must sign the Sex Offender Register for five years and has been banned from working with children.
Police can also monitor his internet use for the next five years.
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