A convicted sex offender has been spared jail after he was caught with 700 images of abuse, despite his partner installing computer software to stop him trawling for child pornography online.

David Spencer, of Bookham Court, Church Road, Leatherhead, pleaded guilty to 16 sexual offence charges at Guildford Crown Court on August 9.

Returning for sentencing yesterday the court heard how 723 indecent images were found on his laptop, computer and Blackberry.

The 40-year-old was caught by Surrey Police after they received intelligence from America of "various indecent images being shared by email users", according to prosecutor Wendy Cottee.

Ms Cottee said  one of the email addresses was traced to Spencer, leading police to raid the home he shared with his partner on March 21.

Ms Cottee said Spencer told his partner: "I’ve been doing it by Skype. It’s to do with the images again," when the police arrived.

All the images were of boys, aged four to 12, including a cartoon depicting a sexual act with an animal, and 160 of the images fell into the most serious categories for this offence.

The court heard that the call centre worker had been convicted of possessing 200 indecent images of children in 2003.

At the time the court had not ordered security software to be installed on his computer, but Ms Cottee said Spencer’s partner had done so.

The prosecutor said Spencer had distributed the images to others - including people in the US - and had been "chatting to people with a similar interest very explicitly about young boys" online.

George Zachary, defending, asked the judge to consider Spencer’s admission of guilt as soon as police arrived at his home and the fact he had attended a rehabilitation scheme at the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

Mr Zachary said there had been a "significant amount of time with no reoffending" and that the images involved were of a "low number" compared to other sexual offences cases.

He said Spencer, who has split up from his partner, has "significant" debts and that he "lived a solitary existence."

Judge Peter Moss acknowledged Mr Zachary’s submissions and sentenced Spencer to a three-year community order, instead of the two-year prison sentence which was the starting point for the offences.

He added: "The images involve the abuse of children even though you are not abusing them yourself - other people are to satisfy your appetite for the material.

"You’re a rather weak and lonely man and there are disturbing aspects to your offending."

Spencer has been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register, is under three years’ supervision and was required to pay court costs of £365 and a victim surcharge of £60.

A Sexual Offences Prevention Order prohibiting him from accessing the internet on any device not installed with security software for 10 years was also made.

Spencer, whose father was sitting in the public gallery, appeared clean-shaven, with dark hair and glasses, wearing a black suit and dark shirt and tie. He carried a bag of his belongings out of the court with him, which he had brought with him in expectation of a prison sentence.

 

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