June 2015 Internet repair lands sex offender in court A sex offender restricted from using the internet landed himself back in court – for trying to speed up a family’s broadband. Andrew Flinton was jailed in 2004 after a police raid found over 10,000 child abuse pictures on his computer – including some a judge called “sadistic”. The serious nature of him crimes resulted in North Yorkshire Police making him the subject of a sexual offences prevention order upon his release. The 51-year-old appeared back in court on Friday, where he admitted breaching that order. He had visited a Scarborough family’s home on a handful of occasions to carry out work on their internet. But he breached the order, which restricts him from knowingly entering a property with underage children inside. One of the family’s children was just a toddler, the court heard, while the other was a teenager. However, his solicitor Robert Vining said the case was “not quite how it appears”, and Scarborough Magistrates heard how the mother of the house knew Flinton “had been done” for possessing child pornography before letting him inside. “At no time has he ever been in the house with just the children,” said Mr Vining. “It’s quite correct that what he was doing was to try and speed up their internet. “But there was never going yo be anything untowards happening to the children.” Unemployed Flinton, of Royal Avenue, had his hands clasped as he pleaded guilty. It was the first time he’d appeared in court since his conviction for 21 charges relating to possessing child pornography over a decade ago. Then he was jailed for 15 months, with judge Paul Hoffman claiming there was a high risk of him re-offending if not put on a treatment programme. In 2007, he was issued the order by the force with the aim of helping prevent future offending, by restricting access to children and the internet. The court heard that since then, Flinton is currently on Jobseeker’s Allowance and spends most of his time visiting his poorly mother, who gets upset if he doesn’t visit. He appeared on and was released on conditional bail ahead of sentencing, which will take place at Scarborough Magistrates on July 2. A sentencing report will be prepared, and Flinton was told by the bench; “If you do not come back to court on that date and time, you could be committing an offence.” May 2004 Man addicted to child abuse images A man has been jailed for having 11,000 indecent pictures of children on his computer. York Crown Court heard that Andrew Flinton, 40, had downloaded the pictures from the internet over the past three or four years. His house was searched on December 14 last year following information received by the police. Three-hundred of the pictures were classed as levels four and five– the most serious depiction of child abuse there is. Judge Paul Hoffman said: “Some were sadistic and involved very little children and by doing this you contributed to the abuse and degradation of children.” The court was told that Flinton, of Chapel Street, Bridlington, and formerly of Scarborough, initially downloaded material out of curiosity but became addicted to it. Simon Phillips, in mitigation, said that prison would be particularly hard on Flinton as he is claustrophobic and suffers from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). He said Flinton has no previous convictions and was a hard working, industrious man who had spent two years living on incapacity benefit because of IBS. He also said he had been bullied at school and suffered from low self-esteem and depression. Mr Phillips told the court that Flinton had cooperated fully throughout the investigation and had taken police officers to the computer when they asked him if there was any child pornography in the house. “He wanted to get caught to get help,” Mr Phillips said. “He realised it was wrong and that it could not continue but he did not have the strength of character to surrender himself to the authorities.” He said Flinton was not involved in abusing children or distributing the pictures. Sentencing Flinton to 15 months in prison Judge Paul Hoffman told him that reports compiled said there was a high risk of him re-offending if not put on a treatment programme. Flinton will spend five years on licence when freed, will have to register as a sex offender within three days of being released and is banned from working with children for the rest of his life.