ALAN BROWN OF BRIERFIELD SENTENCED FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY IN BURNLEY

In October 2007, a man named Alan Brown, residing in Brierfield, was sentenced to a 12-month prison term after being found guilty of possessing a significant collection of child abuse images. The case was heard at Burnley Crown Court, where it was revealed that Brown, aged 59, had an obsessive interest in pre-pubescent children, which was reflected in the disturbing content stored on his computer.

Prosecutors detailed that Brown had accumulated over a thousand images depicting children as young as five years old. Among these images, some involved acts of sadism and bondage, highlighting the severity of the material he possessed. The police investigation was initiated after authorities in Russia raided a website hosting child pornography and subsequently traced the site’s details to Brown. This international tip-off led to his arrest in Brierfield, where he was found to live on Burnley Road.

Brown admitted to possessing six counts of indecent images of children and creating six more images of a similar nature, with the offenses spanning from November 1998 to December 2006. As part of his sentence, he was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for a decade, issued a 10-year sex offences prevention order, and prohibited from owning or possessing any computer equipment at his residence. Additionally, he was barred from having unsupervised contact with anyone under 16 and from working with children for the rest of his life. It was noted that Brown had no prior criminal convictions.

During the court proceedings, Louise Whaites, the prosecutor, explained that police had visited Brown’s home on December 6, 2006, following the Russian authorities’ tip-off. A search of his property uncovered three computers, which were subsequently analyzed. The investigation revealed a total of 1,023 images, with 119 classified as level five, indicating the most serious category of child abuse material. Some images had been stored in user-created folders, with Brown having deliberately organized certain images into specific directories.

Brown told police that he had been working in the IT industry since the early 1980s. He claimed that he viewed adult pornography daily for about half an hour and that he usually deleted indecent images after viewing them. He also mentioned that he had previously watched videos but found them too slow to download. When questioned about the images, Brown stated that he did not have an interest in children and attributed his actions to boredom and loneliness.

Rod Priestley, representing Brown, acknowledged that his client accepted he needed professional help. He expressed a desire to understand why he had engaged in such behavior, emphasizing that Brown recognized he had a serious problem that required addressing, particularly concerning his attraction to pre-pubescent children. The court’s verdict reflected the gravity of the offenses, leading to the substantial sentence and restrictions imposed on Brown’s future conduct.